From Hunted to Hunter
by CC-2224 Commander Cody
Summary: I've been many things: an Orphan, Terrorist, Murderer, Liar, Protector, Friend, Leader, a Pawn and a Huntsman. My name is Simon, my past is a cautionary tale of the dark abyss of the human psyche that men who fight monsters fall into and themselves become monsters, but I survived and climbed out of that pit. Now my mission is to save Remnant from evil and my friend from himself.
1. Abandonment

**From Hunted to Hunter**

**By CC-2224 Commander Cody (CC)**

A/N: Being a massive fan of RWBY and also seeing the large fan fiction community it has following it, I thought I'd like to contribute, any constructive criticism is welcome... ENJOY :)

**Edited/polished by Tommy2486, 19/12/15.**

**Cover Art by: DEVIN.**

**Chapter One: Abandonment (5 years before the events of RWBY Volume 1)**

In a small town on the edge of Vale City, the raucous of a child's birthday party could be heard.

"Tag you're it Velvet !" the young 12 year old Simon Alexander laughed as he jumped off the low shed roof in the backyard of his neighbours the Scarlatina family to tag his childhood friend Velvet; who looked like any regular girl, except for the bunny ears sitting atop her head. The girl was a Faunus, a near human race whom share physical characteristics with animals. The brown haired girl squealed in delight as the boy ran off vaulting over the fence that separated the homes of the Scarlatina and Alexander families only to be met by half a dozen other Faunus children of varying ages who caught him mid-air all laughing.

"Oh haha it seems you're trapped now Simmo, no one escapes the Faunus in a game of tag" a young kid who had antlers like a stag by the name of Rudolf managed to squeeze out between hysterical laughter as the group carried Simon's struggling, laughing form towards the Alexander Family pool.

"Please guys no not the pool, I yield, I yield" Simon laughed out, only to be saying it underwater as his friends plunged the birthday boy into the pool. A group of parents watched over the children, all Faunus except for Simon.

His parents looked on from near the BBQ as the Faunus children with the exception of a set of cat-like twins jumped into the pool after Simon. With the Children out of sight in the pool, the look on the parents' faces became less jovial and more apprehensive.

"Anthony, with the new leadership of the White Fang and their attitudes towards humans residing in what they consider 'Faunus Neighbourhoods' it isn't safe for you or your family here anymore, we can't protect you if they target you, you know this." Satin Scarlatina said as she addressed Simon's father, Dr Anthony Alexander.

"Satin my dear; they wouldn't dare try to kill the only doctor in this community. The Health Service would not send another and all of you would be left without medical care, not exactly a situation even the mongrels running the White Fang would welcome." the good doctor said while munching on his hamburger.

The rest of the adult guests couldn't help but worry for their human neighbours whom they accepted into their small community 7 years ago without reservation on his species.

Another guest Mr. Montague instead tried to persuade Anthony's wife of the seriousness of the situation. "Martha please talk some sense into your stubborn husband! Even if he stays to run the clinic, at least send you and your son somewhere safer, the White Fang won't show you or Simon any mercy if they come. We're saying this as friends who do not wish to see bloodshed come to our small community."

Martha considered this and sent her husband a pleading look, taking him aside, whispering once they were out of sight of their friends. "Anthony, I know you want to keep the clinic open and not be put off or intimidated by the White Fang, but our friends are right, it's in the best interest of Simon that he not stay somewhere he could be put into unwarranted danger, he is only 12. He is not even old enough to go to combat school yet." she pleaded, her only concern being the safety of her only child, not her husband's stubborn pride at snubbing the White Fang, her eyes desperate for him to consider his son, he averted his gaze and sighed, relenting to his wife.

"Ok love, you and Simon will go stay with your parents, but I' am not leaving these people without accessible medical care, some of them are very ill and it is 30 minutes to the nearest hospital." Anthony said in his stubborn Matter-of-Factly tone. His wife smiled, she was always proud at how her husband put others before himself.

"Ok Anthony, we'll leave tomorrow morning. I'll start packing after the party" she leaned up and kissed her husband and walked elegantly back to the group of Faunus that were her friends leaving Anthony alone to ponder what the future held for his family.

In the pool Simon splashed around with his friends "hey guys thanks for all this, it's been such a great day with you all for my Birthday. It's been so much fun to just relax out here with the best friends any boy could have" he said as he splashed some water towards Velvet and ducking under water to avoid the retaliation from the bunny eared Faunus girl. As he surfaced he was met by a torrent of water from all of his Faunus Friends who all splashed and laughed together, totally oblivious to the dark clouds gathering, about to shatter their innocent little world.

**That Night: The Alexander Residence.**

As night fell and Simon was tucked into bed, Martha and Anthony began packing up Simon's things and preparing his and Martha's belongings for travel before dawn the next morning. Martha stood in her son's doorway and sighed, "I worry about him, this place is his home, all of his friends are here, it will confuse him greatly to have to up and leave without saying goodbye to any of his friends."

Anthony came up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Well this was your idea and as much as I hate to admit I' am wrong, it is wrong to endanger him by keeping him here, at least until we know what the new leaders of the White Fang are going to be like towards humans in communities such as this." he said soothingly. Martha Turned around and embraced her husband, sharing an intimate kiss... only for it to be shattered by the sound of shattering glass downstairs as several bricks went through the front windows.

Martha dove into Simon's room and scooped him up, running towards the back stairwell out to the back yard as Anthony calmly picked up his rifle that hung above his bed and walked downstairs to meet the White Fang mob that were ransacking his house, they stopped and faced him, training their guns onto him.

The White Fang thug in charged stepped forward, a rifle raised at the doctor. "Are you Doctor Anthony Alexander?"

Anthony nodded "yeah that's me, what's it to you? And why are you destroying my home, frightening my family" the normally calm doctor hissed at the invaders who merely laughed.

The leader once again spoke up "As you're probably aware, you're living in a Faunus Neighbourhood, under the umm 'Protection' of the White Fang, you and your unwillingness to resign and make way for a Faunus doctor to render medical care has been a blight against us for far too long, we're here to make sure that blight ends right now" The leader raised his gun and fired before Anthony even had a chance to raise his rifle.

As the good doctor slumped onto the ground, Simon Screamed in fear at the shot and Martha quickly made a dash for the rear exit, running across the back yard to the rear fence beyond which laid the forest and beyond that, the highway into Vale. Martha heard firebombs being set off inside her former home and smashing windows as White Fang thugs burst out of the rear of the house.

Martha placed Simon upon the top of the high fence. Her face pale with fear and resignation at her fate "Run Simon, run as fast and as far as you can, and don't stop for anyone! I Love you my sweet child" those were her last words before she pushed Simon over the fence and turned to face the Thugs advancing upon her.

Simon did as his mother said, he ran through the forest ignoring the screams that emanated from his mother, growing ever softer as he ran for his life. After about an hour he came to a road, he slumped against a tree and wondered what to do next. For the first time in his life he felt alone, scared, and disorientated. Once he had caught his breath, he stood and turned to face down the road, in the distance he could see the lights that were the City of Vale.

"Ok if I start walking now, keeping out of sight, I should make it to Vale by sunrise, maybe I'll find someone who can help me" he whispered to himself, tears still streaming down his face at the events of that night in which his life and his innocence had been destroyed. He had been left with nothing but the clothes on his back and a desperation to survive and find safety, with that he ducked into the trees once more and began the long slow walk into uncertainty...

**A/N:** So that is Chapter 1... The Plot Line of this story has been swirling around in my head for a while. I hope you enjoy my first Non Star Wars related Fiction. Don't worry people... Our favourite Huntresses-in-training will appear in later chapters :) Please Read and Review... CC signing off.


	2. Lost, Found and Lost again

**Rewritten 12/01/15.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RWBY! Which is good or no one would watch it probably.**

**Chapter Two: Lost, Found and Lost again**

It had rained during the night, it had left Simon cold, wet and his light sleep clothes totally useless at trapping heat to warm him up. He continued to stubbornly walk towards the city of Vale, constantly looking behind him in fear of whatever attacked his family coming for him, he had heard his father's argument with whoever it was and the words _'White Fang' _ stuck in his mind... who were they? What were they? Why did they want to hurt him?

These questions and more swarmed his mind forcing him to once again sit behind a tree and cry, he cried for want of his mother's hugs and the lovely hot chocolates she made him after he had been playing in the rain. He cried for want of the stories his father told him before bed, but most of all he cried because he just wanted to go home... he was sure this was some sort of horrid nightmare and in moments he would wake up screaming and running to crawl into bed with his parent where nothing bad whatsoever could happen to him. But he didn't wake up, the loving embrace of his parents never came, all that came was the continued tears and rain that soaked him to his core, extinguishing the weak flame of his will as he slumped against the tree, his tear filled eyes slowly closing, and Simon hoped they'd never open again.

It was several hours later when Simon jolted awake, suddenly fearful 'This is NOT my bed, THIS IS NOT RIGHT!' his dazed and disorientated mind screamed at him, his breathing quickened and he jumped up to see the road and the outer suburbs of Vale only a couple kilometres away, his memory of the previous night slowly coming back to him. He sighed and looked at his ripped and muddied clothes looking despondent as he began walking once more, trying to work out what to do 'I must get to a police station, they can help me... they will take the bad people away and make sure I' am looked after.' Satisfied with his plan he walked into the city.

It was past noon when Simon finally reached the inner parts of Vale, he had never been into Vale before despite living so close to it. The sheer size of the buildings and the large amounts of people all crowded into such a small place only served to frighten him more, especially since a lot of these people were so mean calling him things like 'street urchin' and shoving him away, it took all his effort not to cry.

_'Why were people so mean here? People back home would help someone in need, not shove them in a gutter!' _His mind was boggled and he struggled to understand the coldness and indifference that was reality in this big, bad world. Simon Shivered from his wet and muddied clothes. He saw a cafe with an outdoor heating lamp, like the one in his family's back patio... his heart suddenly ached at the memories of the party he had had there only yesterday, he suddenly missed his friends, especially the playful bunny girl that was his neighbour Velvet.

Simon sighed and walked over towards the cafe, his walk became a scramble as he crossed the road, very nearly getting hit by a car, which resulted in a series of yelling bad words from its driver towards Simon. As he finally reached the precious heat lamp, he slumped against a post next to it and soaked in the warmth it provided, slowly dozing off, oblivious to the dangers that surrounded him. Only for about Five minutes later for a broom to swat Simon across the face, scraping skin off as an angry shopkeeper yelled at the young child "GET AWAY FROM HERE YOU FILTHY LITTLE MONGREL! You're scaring away my customers, now GO!" he yelled taking another swipe at Simon as he once again jolted awake in fear and ran for his life, sobbing and crying from the shopkeeper.

He ran through the crowds not stopping until he came to a small police prescient. Simon sighed with relief _'I am finally safe, the police will protect me!' _he thought to himself as he pushed open the door to the station, a uniformed lady sat behind the desk, a TV in the corner showing a news report from Simon's home showing that his beloved childhood home had been burnt to the ground, picket signs declaring that humans leave _'Faunus neighbourhoods' _must leave or suffer a similar fate. The lady behind the counter, which was covered by a very thick screen peered over to the muddy, scruffy haired boy who was fixated upon the news report showing his home, she coughed and Simon looked over.

"May I help you young one?" she said with genuine care. Causing the tension that had built up in the kid to immediately disappear and he smiled weakly which disappeared as quickly as it came and he slumped into a chair sobbing uncontrollably.

"M-My Parents, they were killed last night, someone killed them and burnt my home" Simon managed to say before he lost control completely and simply wailed.

The officer sat there shocked and saw what was on the TV which she usually ignored, putting the pieces together she immediately picked up her scroll and rang her supervisor "Sarge, you might want to get back here... something big has come up" she said simply before hanging up and going into the stations kitchenette and grabbed the muffin from her lunch and a glass of milk, bringing it out to the still sobbing boy.

"Here, some food might do you some good, By the way my name is Connie, but my friends tend to call me CT." Simon nodded his head in thanks and began to nibble, managing to control the sobbing long enough to not spill his meal. Once he had calmed down and managed to finish his food CT returned with a notepad and a recording device. "Can you come with me little one, I need to ask you some questions" CT said with a motherly smile, that made Simon feel safe, he nodded and followed CT into an interview room.

Unbeknownst to CT or Simon, they were being watched from the shadows of an alley across the street, "Base, this is Rapier Wasp, I've found the Alexander kid. He just entered the police watch house on Burnett Avenue".

The radio crackled and a reply came through "keep an eye on that watch house, if he remains there go in tonight and finish the Job that we began last night." a deep wolf like voice replied, the _White Fang _weren't going to allow a single Alexander survive to continue to slight them. The black haired man with black cat ears sitting atop his head licked his lips and retreated deeper into the shadows to wait until nightfall.

"So your name is Simon Alexander and you are the boy missing from last night's _White Fang_ attack in the village of Exton?" CT asked jotting down notes onto her pad.

Simon nodded "My mummy told me to run as far away from there as possible and not to stop, I kept running until I reached the highway and saw the lights of this Vale in the distance" Simon said meekly as the door to the station opened up and a large man came out to the back area, he wore red armoured shoulder plates and had a shotgun slung across his back.

"CT now what was so important as to disturb my day off catching up on my stories?" he said grumpily in a deep southern accent.

"Sorry Sarge, but this kid came in and it seems he is the missing child from the Exton _White Fang_ attack last night" CT replied firmly, obviously tired of her superiors shit. The red clad Sergeant grumbled under his breath and went into his office.

"I'll contact VPD HQ and you continue interviewing the boy, you always seemed the motherly type anyways." he slammed his door shut.

CT sighed and returned her attention back to Simon who was chuckling at the exchange he had just seen from the police officers. "Connie, what is the _White Fang_? And why do they hate my family?" Simon asked curiously.

CT was caught off guard and stumbled slightly "Um well Simon, The _White Fang_ are a group of Faunus who don't like people very much and don't like us exerting control or living in what they think is Faunus territory like they believed Exton is" she said trying not to overwhelm the fragile emotional and mental state Simon was in.

Simon contemplated this and frowned "But all my friends and their families are Faunus, they don't hate us... why would the White Fang do this when the people actually living there didn't want that to happen?" Simon replied oblivious to the realities of the world beyond his childhood home. CT merely smiled and offered Simon another glass of milk that he accepted.

Sarge's office door opened up and he walked out grumbling, pulling CT aside and whispering "Just got off the horn to HQ, some special agents will be here tomorrow to take Simon to a safe house, until then he is to stay here and not go out. HQ thinks that the _White Fang_ will try to finish what they started..." CT gasped at this news and looked very worried for the child's safety. "We'll both stay here overnight, making sure no harm comes to Simon" Sarge said in his usual serious tone before returning to his office.

CT spent the afternoon watching over Simon, fetching him some colouring pencils and paper, which he used to draw contentedly. Finally allowing the fear to subside, relieved that the pain was over and the White Fang couldn't hurt him... or so he thought at the time. That night he had fallen asleep on a camping bed that the Sarge had supplied to him, he curled up but couldn't sleep, too many nightmares of the previous night. CT sat across the room in her desk filling out paperwork, sidearm sitting on her desk and Sarge was in his office polishing his beloved shotgun. It was about 1am when it struck, the power to the station cut out and several bricks and Molotov cocktails went through the front windows causing Simon to relapse into paralysed fear screaming and sobbing as four men and a woman entered all dressed in _White Fang_ uniforms carrying various blades and pistols. "Give us the boy and you won't be harmed officers, we have no quarrel with you... yet" the leader said his golden cat-like eyes boring straight into the skull of Simon.

CT jumped up, her service pistol raised and fired 3 expertly placed shots, taking one down before another flipped off the ceiling, driving a blade up into CT's chest she fell coughing as a large red pool gathered around her. The remaining four assassins advanced towards the helpless Simon who had curled up into a ball and held his hands up over his face in a feeble attempt to defend himself, just as all seemed lost a shotgun blast tore through the Sergeant's office window taking out another assassin. "he-he, you just got Sarged" he said proudly in his southern accent as he hit the female assassin with the butt of his shotgun before shooting down the 4th, leaving only the black haired, cat-eared leader. Simon began slowly making his way towards the station's rear exit. He watched as Sarge fought the leader who used a black painted katana to attack the shotgun wielding police officer, who at the worst possible moment, ran out of shells in his weapon.

The officer attempted to smack his opponent with the butt of his weapon only to be impaled onto the katana. Simon flinched at the sight and ran out the back door, though the car park and into the night. Once more running and not turning or looking back. Meanwhile back at the police station the _White Fang_ Assassin grumbled as he stepped over the bodies that littered the floor. About to chase after his target before being forced into the shadows by the arrival of Light Armoured Assault Carriers of the Vale Defence Force's 1st Mobile Regiment as well as various police vehicles carrying dozens of soldiers and police. He cursed under his breath at the failure of his mission, but decided with this part of the city going into lockdown, it wasn't worth pursuing the kid at this time.

Simon ran for what seemed like hours until he reached the docks. He hid among some crates and began to sob and shake uncontrollably. For the second time in only 24 hours he was on the run, witnessing those who tried to protect and help him get cut down, the face of the man, no not man... the beast who did this burnt into his mind. He huddled up into a ball among the crates that bore a Snowflake emblem and the words SDC on them. Simon admired the pretty design and wondered where the crates were going when a thought crossed his mind, _'I must get away from here... far away where no one will ever find me' _Simon decided in his mind, knowing that staying here will only result in more people dying because they wanted to help him. With that though, Simon opened up a crate and hid inside, after a while he felt the crate move and being loaded upon the ship, after a couple hours when he was sure the ship was moving, Simon exited the crate and found a store of old threadbare blankets to curl into, the blankets where rough, itchy and uncomfortable but they were infinitely better than the cold metal ship surface. Once he settled in Simon, filled with fear of what had happened, apprehension with what will follow Simon curled up shaken and afraid and drifted off into a nightmare filled sleep.

**A/N:** Yes I referenced Red Vs Blue here... I was going to have a Caboose like character be a 3rd police officer, but decided against it after the death of our favourite Blue clad Soldier... in all seriousness to do that to our beloved Caboose was the biggest dick move EVER... OF ALL TIME! I hope whoever decides to read this will enjoy it... any advice or comments are welcome - CC signing off :)


	3. The Rapscallion

**A/N:** CC here with Chapter 3 of From Hunted to Hunter. As usual I hope those people who chose to read my work really enjoy it, feel free to leave your thoughts both negative and positive in the reviews, I welcome all comments :)

**Rewritten 12/01/15**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own RWBY, nor do I really want to... it's too good for me to risk ruining.**

**Chapter Three: The Rapscallion.**

It had been a Week since Simon had stowed away on the container ship to take him away from the deadly nightmarish reality that his life had become. The boy had made the ships hold into his own little hidey hole. After exploring the hold, Simon deduced that this ship was run by the Schnee Dust Company but that smaller companies also rented out space in the hold to transport goods to Atlas where the SDC was based from Vale. As he ducked from container to container both looking for food, clothing and bedding material as well as hide from any ship's crew that come down to check the cargo, Simon felt guilty every time he opened up a crate to and even more guilty when he actually took something from said crates even if it was only a blanket or a item of clothing.

His parents had taught him that stealing was very wrong, but Simon was scared if he showed himself again, the assassins would return and attempt to kill him again which could lead to the crew being hurt or the ship sunk. Not willing to put anyone at risk for him, Simon stayed hidden in the hold... At least until after a week he realised he couldn't put off having to sneak into the rest of the ship to find food, as there was none in the hold and he was dangerously malnourished and devoid of energy. He feared he might pass out and not reawaken on the seemingly endless journey to atlas, and he didn't survive two attempts on his life just to die from his own stupidity and not putting survival over morals, '_it is only a little food, it's not like I'm going to kill anyone... no harm will come of this' _Simon reasoned as he slipped up into a ventilation shaft, immediately smelling the scent of soup and toast.

His mouth suddenly watering, Simon's basic survival instincts took over and he silently, breathlessly crawled through the shaft following the scent of food, after about 30 minutes of inching himself closer, he found a grate right over the galley, it took all of Simon's self control to not just jump down right in front of the dozen or so crew eating in the galley area so he waited patiently. After an hour the last crewman left to go out to duty and ever so slowly did Simon drop down and walk over to the now simmering stove, Simon held his breath as he lifted the lid to see a very thick mix of peas, ham and potatoes. _'They won't notice or care if I take just a bowl or two for myself' _Simon thought as he took a large container and filled it with the green gloop, taking a spoon and some bread for good measure before sealing the container and slipping back to his little hidey hole in the cargo hold.

This was the pattern for the next two weeks on the trip to Atlas, Simon would get hungry, sneak to the galley and steal just enough food to stave off hunger for another day, it became so routine that Simon's conscience no longer nagged at him for taking food for survival and it certainly didn't nag Simon when he found a small crate inscribed with 'Property of Heiress Weiss Schnee' on it and decided to ransack the contents of a lovely White silk dress to use as a pillow and a matching Skirt to tear open to use as a blanket _'Some spoilt little rich girl won't miss one dress and skirt, she probably has more than she already knows what to do with' _Simon thought to himself as he dozed off on his new silken bed.

After about three weeks on the ship, it began to slow down, Simon wondered why and eventually came to the conclusion that Atlas was nearing and the ship was preparing to dock. Simon found the crate he had originally embarked in and crawled back inside, steeling himself for what was to come. The Crate jolted sharply as it was lifted from the ship by what Simon imagined was a large crane, once he felt the crate jolt again as it hit the ground Simon gathered up his things, the dress included and cracked open the door and peered out... and that's when trouble struck, the crate was atop a pile of other crates so Simon would have to climb down, no mean feat for a child with more than a slight fear of heights. Simon ever so slowly began his climb down the three or four storeys with of SDC crates, Simon was down to the second to last crate when a yell reached his ear "OI YOU! STOWAWAY... GET OVER HERE NOW!" Simon turned to see two dock workers running his way.

Simon Panicked and jumped, landing awkwardly on his right knee, feeling something pop Simon winced and yelled in pain as a White-red glow appeared around his body. Simon momentarily stood frozen in wonderment at the glow before feeling the pain in his leg dissipate he faced forward and took off, his senses, agility and speed all heightened with the White-red Glow the enveloped his body as Simon ran towards the entrance to the harbour.

**Weiss Schnee's PoV:**

It was another typical day for the Schnee family, our Father had decided to take us on a 'Day Out'. Obviously our ideas of what that term means differ immensely. So here we were watching our latest shipment enter the port. I was bored out of my skull, I would have much rather spent today out shopping or catching up with my friend Pyrrha Nikos. My younger sister Winter was next to me, looking equally unhappy turned to our father "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" 

I also took this as my time to protest only just noticing the smell of near putrid fish from the fishing boats nearby Holding my nose I complained "ugh yes dad, they smell like fish." 

Our father merely grunted in that grumpy way when he wanted us to stop talking. "There is a very important shipment of Dust coming in today and I must ensure it arrives safely." he replied sourly and stuck his nose back into his scroll filling out forms. I humph and turned away when something caught my eye, a boy about my age running across several ranks of dust containers normally it stick my nose up at such a rapscallion causing a ruckus in my families' dock but on this occasion I was just to bored to bother with putting on the whole pretentious brat act that my family name demanded of me.

Instead I kept my eyes on him, instantly registering the fact he had an Aura of Red and White surrounding him _"He must be an extremely skilled warrior to be able to conjure an Aura so young, I wish he would teach me how to summon an Aura'_ Weiss thought dreamily to herself. The chocolate haired boy suddenly switched directions coming straight for us in an effort to evade the dock staff. My curiosity and rebellious streak were piqued as the kid leapt off the last container right over us and barrel rolling over our car within feet of me before returning to his feet and running off into the distance of an alley way.

A Small smirk came across our face, it took all my effort not to straight out laugh when the dock staff stopped by our car huffing and puffing. My father was instantly angry yelling at the dock foreman and demanding to see the ships security officer, my sister Winter noticed my smirk and poked me "looks like someone's got their first crush" she whispered. I turned to her and smacked her arm incredulously, "I do NOT, I merely find it amusing that someone so young could make these dock workers look like such fools" I whispered back as several of the ships officers walked up to my father carrying a crate bearing my name on it _"ooh a gift, so this is why my father brought me here, this day just gets better' _I thought to myself. The Foreman handed the box inscribed with my name to my father, both men were fuming as I heard the foreman speak "That little shit ransacked your daughters personal cargo and used her dress for bedding, The little urchin stole it." My face fell _'IF I EVER SEE THAT LITTLE RAPSCALLION AGAIN I WILL KILL HIM!' _I fumed in my head as I went and skulked in the car for the rest of the day.

**3rd Person PoV:**

Simon hid out in an Alley way near the centre of the town adjoining the docks exhausted and looking at his hands as the glow died down _'What happened to me? that is NOT normal! NONE of this is normal? am I some kind of freak' _where some of the questions that ran through his mind, he had never been a particularly fast or agile person outside of climbing trees and vaulting the fence between his and the Scarlatina's yard. And that's when the loneliness and anxiety hit him like a freight train as he slumped against the wall "oh my mummy, I miss you... why did you and dad have to leave me?" Simon sobbed "why did they come, what did we do wrong, my daddy was the good doctor, no one hated him in our town! IT ISN'T FAIR! WE DID NOTHING WRONG!" Simon screamed at the wall as he once again collapsed sobbing.

_'What if it wasn't only my family, what if they hurt poor, sweet Velvet as well... NO, just NO... keep calm Simon, the White Fang are Faunus, they wouldn't dare harm one of their own? right?' _Simon tried to reassure himself, not sure if he actually believed himself... but he needed the hope of something or someone to return to eventually. Simon had kept the long since ruined dress, skirt and some extra stolen food in a knapsack as he made his escape. _'Ok Simon, get some rest, that glowing thing has really taken it out of you. when you wake up, got to begin thinking of a way to get out of this mess' _he thought to himself as he nestled into the shadows of the Alley way for a much needed rest, his last thoughts before succumbing to sleep going out to the group of loving friends he left behind, wishing them well until he returned.

**A/N: **Something tells me that Simon will one day eventually regret crossing one Weiss Schnee haha. -CC Signing off.


	4. Survival Instincts

**A/N: **Looking back over Chapter 3, I' am not quite happy with it... it seems rather forced, so I apologise now to anyone who actually reads this far into my story if they found chapter 3 to be lacklustre, let's hope the standard improves as I go along, then people might enjoy my story a bit more... so without further pointless ramblings from the author I bring you Chapter 4 of From Hunted to Hunter -CC Signing on

**Rewritten 13/01/15**

**Chapter Four: Survival Instincts**

Simon awoke with a start, he didn't know how long he had been out of it, but he knew it was night out by now, his stomach rumbled and he pulled out his container of soup and woofed it down despite the fact it was cold and didn't taste very good. But Simon didn't complain, all he wanted to do was to survive long enough to be able to safely go home.

_'may as well do some exploring, this container won't last forever and I need to find a new source of food' _he thought to himself as he finished off the container of soup and standing up to leave his little hide. Two hours later after much exploring the town from the shadows, Simon happened across a small corner store that had shut for the night and snuck atop its roof looking for a vent to use to access the store as he had aboard the SDC freighter. Not finding any Simon grunted deciding to find somewhere else, except his stomach rumbled violently, frowning he weighed up his options _'well the windows didn't have any bars on them, maybe a large enough rock will break it?' _Simon thought to himself before almost instantly rebuking himself _'Sneaking through a vent is one thing... but destroying someone's property just to eat is totally unacceptable, what would mum think!' _his conscience tried to reason.

With this the two sides of Simon's head went to war on each other, his survival instincts that wanted to eat and his conscience that demanded he stay the well behaved boy he was before... before he was left on his own. _'There's no point being good if that only gets you dead! find a rock, smash the window and what you need... nothing more.' _Simon held is head and groaned, not having anyone to talk to was beginning to cause his mind to fracture, having discussions and arguments with his own head. Eventually the most basic human needs of food won out and Simon jumped down towards the rear of the building, as he began scrounging through the piles of junk he found an old microwave as there were no decent sized rocks. "ugh, this old heap of junk will do the job I guess" Simon muttered as he struggled with all his strength to lift the hulking appliance and drag it back around to the front of the shop _'Ugh that mysterious glow would come in such handy right now'_ Simon fumed still not having worked out what had happened to him. Having finally managed to get the hulking microwave to the front of the shop Simon picked it up; huffing and puffing as he hurled it as hard as he could being met with a satisfying shatter of glass _'well that felt strangely gratifying, no wonder dad liked to go shooting on weekends, breaking things is quite fun' _Simon chuckled, before the pang of hurt hit his heart as his dad had promised to teach him to shoot after he had turned 12.

His mood ruined Simon slipped into the store and headed straight for the dried food isle, taking large tins of spaghetti and packets of beef jerky. As he heard the sounds of police cars approaching Simon knew that it was time to get out of there... but not before grabbing a block of his favourite chocolate and dashing down an alley way and taking a long route to his hide to avoid the police searching the area.

Sitting down in his hide Simon bit into a piece of beef Jerky and gazed at his hands _'Now what in the Grimm happened at the docks? Do I have super powers or am I just a freak?' _Simon pondered before remembering a tale his mother had told him as a bed time story about a knight who glowed in battle and who was unstoppable in battle when he glowed.

_'So that wasn't just a fairy tale mummy told me to fill my head with wild dreams, I' am exactly like that knight. This could come in handy... it could help me break into places easier and get into places I didn't used to be.' _Simon smirked at his plan to use this new found ability to his advantage, only for his conscience to rebuke him once more. _'One: you have only conjured that glow once. Two: even if you could conjure it again, how would you be able to control it? Three: your mother would abhorrer this behaviour from her son.' _Simon instantly fumed at his own mind.

_'Well I'll just practice then, I WILL Control this power, I WILL NOT allow you or anyone tell me otherwise!' _Simon mentally screamed at himself as though he were two different people entirely.

_'If your mother saw you like this, she would be so very disappointed in you' _his conscience rebutted. T

his only made Simon angrier _'My mother is DEAD! The White Fang KILLED HER and DAD! and anyone else who tries to only HELP ME! they need to pay... yes I'll use my power to kill them once I control it!' _Simon by this time was in a blind rage swung around and punched a nearby wall, snapping several bones in his hand, which snapped him out of his rage and caused him to yelp in pain.

"Gah that hurts, stupid, stupid, STUPID me!" he rebuked himself as he clenched his hand, slowly the red-white glow reappeared and Simon felt his hand rapidly healing, cracked and broken bones mending together as if he had never been injured in the first place. "whoa, now that is cool" Simon said in wonderment, as the glow subsided, he felt very exhausted from the experience. His mental argument all but forgotten laid down on the bed he had made out of the _'rich brat'_ Weiss Schnee's dresses and dozed off to sleep.

Over the next two weeks Simon followed much the same pattern, spend the day light in his hide trying to summon and control the mysterious glow that came and went. Then at night he would prowl the streets looking for somewhere to scrounge food, taking every precaution to not be seen or caught, most of the time there was a air vent that his small frame could fit into, unfortunately sometimes windows had to be smashed and police ended up being sent in, only to find an empty store with no money missing while Simon made it safely back to his hide without incident, at least until today... Simon had head out early this evening just before sunset to get to a different part of the port town as police numbers had drastically increased, strolling past an electronics shop Simon saw his photo plastered on the TV, well a blurry black and white version of him from a stores security camera. Simon gulped and pulled down the hood of the jumper and brim of the cap he had taken possession of the night before and quickly made his way as fast as he could into the next district of the city where he settled into an alley overlooking a food shop and waited for it to close, he was lucky he was so small and inconspicuous that no one gave him a second look. Simon had become quite adept at this watching and waiting, he could see that this shop lacked TV cameras, had roof access into the vent system, but had bars over doors and windows. Obviously this place was prepared against adult robbers, but not a hungry child with a quick mind.

As night fell Simon crept up onto the roof and through the access hatch, he slowly makes his way through the vents until he finds a hatch right over the dried food isle. Dropping down he grabbed what he needed as well as a bottle of water and several packs of gum, as he had a foul taste in his mouth for days now and kept forgetting to get some gum. Satisfied at his haul Simon climbed back into the vents and made his escape. Once off the roof he made his way into an alley and began walking the back streets towards his hide.

It was when Simon got about halfway to his hide when disaster struck... he was travelling down an alley when a dozen teenage Faunus and humans dropped down from a low roof top and surrounded Simon. The apparent leader: a large Wolf like Faunus stepped forward and two human teenagers grabbed Simon by his arms. "Well, well well... what have we got here? a trespasser on our turf? what are you? some West-side snitch here to spy on us?!" he fumed at Simon as he drew a switchblade.

Simon squirmed and pleaded "no, no, NO I' am not in any gang... I just needed some food. please let me go?" he said tears welling up in his eyes.

The group of teens merely laughed and one stepped forward; a Faunus and punched Simon square in the jaw smiling smugly "I think he is lying boss."

The leader frowned and looked evilly at Simon "Boys show this kid what we do to snitches." With that command the two holding Simon's arms jerked them so his chest was fully exposed and gagged his mouth with a sock the other nine underlings began pummelling Simon's face and abdomen. Simon attempted to struggle and scream but was prohibited from doing so by the gag and the thugs holding him. After what seemed an eternity the leader raised his hand to tell the thugs to stop, they backed away from Simon and let him slump to the ground.

One of the human thugs picked up Simon's sack and looked at its contents "hey boss, look groceries, maybe the kid was telling the truth" he said without regret for the savage beating they had just inflicted.

The leader dismissed it "doesn't matter, this kid aint from around here, so he isn't welcome here... especially at this time of night." The leader then kneeled next to Simon and held the switchblade to his throat, leaning in the leader whispered "come into our turf again, and I'll gut you and leave you to bleed to death in the street... got it you little piece of filth?!" Simon nodded meekly, in too much pain to really understand what was going on. The leader stood up and walked away but not before leaving one final insult to Simon "take the bag, just so he gets the message he isn't welcome here or to take anything from here" before walking into the night his posse in tow. Simon merely passed out in the alley, wondering if what he had done to deserve the beating and if he would live to see the sun rise.

Simon groggily awoke just before sunrise at about 4am the next morning in a pile of his own blood. his head and ribs where throbbing in pain and Simon could barely see out of his left eye. Using all his energy and some reserve stores of adrenaline Simon managed to get to his feet and slowly hobble his way through the back streets and by 6:30am had made it to his hide. His cuts and gashes still oozing blood through the congealed blood that was currently forming a scab and his left cheek swollen with what felt like a fractured cheek bone. _'Why had they attacked me, I did nothing to them, they can't just say a piece of the city is theirs to keep and own' _Simon questioned himself before remembering the vile feeling of a knife to his throat, at this Simon threw up what was left in his stomach... which wasn't much at this point.

_'That's it, I must find myself a weapon. I can't count on people leaving me alone just because I leave them alone, and if I see those thugs again... I'll KILL THEM!' _Simon's darker side fumed, drowning out any arguments for calm and forgiveness that his conscience may have raised. But any notion of revenge would have to wait until his wounds had healed... and without control of the glow, that would take time. Simon grunted in pain as he gently lay himself into his hide, his stomach grumbling from lack of food and the fact he had thrown up what little food he had consumed. _'It'll take a miracle to keep me alive through this, and I can't risk going to a hospital... I' am a wanted criminal by the looks of it.' _Simon mulled over his options as sleep came quickly and Simon was too weak to resist its grasp.

It had been a Week and Simon's injuries hadn't gotten any better, he had deduced that he had a fractured cheek bone, at least 4 broken ribs among a concussion and various gashes in his head. Simon had not left his hide to find food and was thus too weak to summon the glow to heal himself once again as he had before. To fight through the pain Simon had taken to filing two iron bars into pointed shanks spending every waking hour by a block of cement perfecting his new weapons. _'Finally, they're finished, I'd like to see any would-be thug mug me now!'_ he thought confidently as he taped the now sharpened bars to his forearms with some duct tape he had taken during an earlier raid on a shop.

Waiting until nightfall Simon gingerly stood up and hobbled into the shadows, grunting in pain with every breath he took due to the still broken ribs. Simon returned to the store nearest to him, as to go further would have been to taxing on his weakened and battered frame. Despite this store having roof access, Simon didn't have the energy to climb up to the top, instead opting for chucking a brick through the still unbarred windows. Stepping inside Simon made a beeline for a bottle of cold water and a box of muesli bars, not bothering to wait until he had to return to his hide, Simon chugged the entire bottle and ate the whole box of bars within two minutes. Feeling his energy return, Simon grabbed more muesli bars and slowly nibbled away as he restocked his currently non-existent food supplies.

Once he had gathered all he needed Simon heard the sound of sirens in the distance and dashed out the door and into the alley way next to it, taking a long weaving path back to his hide. But as Simon neared his hide, he heard voices; three voices in his hide, he also heard the sound of rummaging. Ever so slowly, Simon laid down his bag and edged around the corner, keeping to the shadows sneaking towards the potential hostiles. There were two thugs in camouflage pants and shirts sifting through Simon's few possessions. Simon slipped on a bottle and grunted, causing the thugs to turn their attention to him.

"Hey kid come here a moment will ya" one of the thugs said raising a pistol, which was the worst possible thing to do. In an instant Simon began to glow and despite the almost unbearable pain he lunged at the thug hitting him with all the force he could muster, the sharp end of one of the bars taped to Simon's forearms being rammed into the base of the thugs neck where throat met collar bone and the other piercing his heart cavity. Blood squirting onto Simon as he withdrew his makeshift weapons, coating Simon in a hot red mess.

By this time the other thug had raised his rifle and fired off several silenced rounds at Simon who bounced off the narrow walls of the alley that made up Simon's hide before once again lunging at his attacker only to be hit in the face with the butt of the thugs rifle. Hitting the ground hard Simon saw stars but as the Thug closed in to finish him off, Simon launched his leg up into the thug's groin and in the moment it took for the thug to react in pain and lower his weapon, Simon upper cut the thug with his dominant left hand The iron shank impaling his head through his throat and up into his mouth. As Simon withdrew the shank and let the man fall, a hair raised on his spine... he had heard THREE voices originally. Looking around Simon saw a lighter lighting a smoke or a cigar and then heard chuckling and clapping from the shadows. Simon took up a low crouch position, ready to lunge and land a kill blow.

"Well done Kid, for someone at your age to conjure such a powerful Aura as to negate the pain of your wounds and be able to fell two of my top bodyguards, I must say I' am impressed." came a patronising voice as a man wearing a White suite wielding a, weaponised cane and wearing a black bowler hat over fiery red bangs came into view. Simon and the man circled each other sizing the other up. But at that moment Simon's Aura failed him and he doubled other puffing and exhausted, feebly raising his arms defensively. The suited man merely laughed "There is no need to see me as hostile, in fact quite the opposite... I' am here to help you" He said coming closer and offering his hand to Simon, who accepted it and stood up.

"But why would you want to help me? I have nothing you want." Simon replied becoming more and more confused by the moment. 

"Oh but you do, you see... you are what I want. It has taken so long to track you down Simon Alexander." The suited man replied smiling in a friendly manner. Simon was very much taken aback by the fact that this total stranger knew who he was.

"And what is so special about me then? And also who are you?" Simon asked suspiciously.

The man gasped mockingly "My My, where are my manners. I' am Roman Torchwick, and my employers have sent me here to find you and offer you a safe place. and eventually an opportunity for revenge" Roman said sinisterly.

The topic of Revenge piqued Simon's interest. "Oh yeah, and who would I be getting revenge on then?" Simon asked curiously.

"Why the White Fang of course. They are the ones who caused you all this pain aren't they?" Roman replied.

But Simon was no longer listening for he had finally realised he was covered in blood and had seen the two limp bodies in the alley. A Blood curdling scream emanated as Simon fell to his knees sobbing and ripping the bars off his arms tossing them aside and rocking side to side "What have I done, I-I killed them, I didn't even think about it, didn't give them a chance, I just saw their guns and lunged!" Roman stood back and let Simon vent his disgust at himself "Oh my what would my mum say... she would be appalled at me, i-i took another life, their blood spilled all over me."

After about 5 minutes Simon had finally calmed down and Roman pushed his offer. "Come with me kid, you won't survive more than a month if you stay on the street like this... don't you want revenge on the White fang as well? to kill the ones who killed your parents?" he was taking a gamble mentioning killing like this, but it paid off. Simon had finally broken. his conscience silent for as the longer he thought about killing those two thugs, the more he relished it and sadistically enjoyed the thought of doing it again.

"Well I crossed the point of no-return long ago, I can never go back to where or who I was, so if you want to recruit me for anything that will keep me safe, allow me to survive and find and kill whoever destroyed my life, I' am in" Simon said dead pan, the sparkle of life gone from his eyes as he followed Torchwick to his car, a large green 4WD and they drove in silence for what seemed like hours, Simon staring out the window reminiscing on the past weeks seeing his childhood slip away with every decision that took him from bad to worse, until eventually survival was all that mattered, even if that meant murder.

After several hours driving from the Port city out into the wilderness Roman eventually pulled up to an old farmhouse, where the car was were met by armed men in camouflage similar to the men Simon had killed the last evening. Turning to Simon, Roman smirked and said "Welcome to the Order of the Black fist, sworn to fight and defeat the White Fang movement and ensure human superiority in Remnant." he exited the car and Simon followed suit, steeling himself for the dangers and challenges that life as an insurgent would almost certainly bring to him and he would conquer those challenges through any means required.

**A/N: **Well this was an interesting chapter to write as I haven't really written a fight scene before. Chapter 5 and onwards follows Simon as a member of the _Black Fist_ fighting against the _White Fang_. I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoy writing it for you. Please Read &amp; Review as feedback on how I' am doing, how i can improve and how people are enjoying this (or aren't) is really appreciated. - CC Signing off.


	5. Vindex Umbra

**A/N: **HI ALL! :) CC here, finally finished the essay I was meant to write so I' am back with Chapter Five of From Hunted to Hunter. I hope you enjoying this so far because the plot will only get thicker and quicker from here on in... and if you're not, well feel free to suggest ways to improve, I won't explode you with dust for venting displeasure with my work :P

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT own RWBY... or I'd smack Jaune over the head repeatedly until he sees how Pyrrha feels about him.

**Rewritten: 14/01/15.**

**Chapter Five: Vindex Umbra  
(Set Two years after Chapter Four, Three years before the events of RWBY Volume 1)**

**Simon's PoV**

It was late at night as I stood hunched over my work station in the weapons forge of the Black Fist's remote training stronghold, assembling the last parts of my new weapon. I smiled as I finished the last weld and lifted my welding visor _'good, now just got to polish and put a coat of finish her' _I thought to myself as I lifted my newly built Medium Calibre Gun Staff from the work bench: a lethal combination of a double bladed combat staff and a 7.62mm machine gun.

Twirling it softly in my hands getting a feel for how the 50cm blades mounted either end weighted against the meter long staff and how it moved in my hands before flipping the switch and watching it transform an less than a second into the waist fired machine gun which was a simple process: the blades collapsed upon themselves and several plates along the shaft slid and popped out to create handholds, The Bolt, a laser for aiming, the trigger and entry and ejection ports for the dust cartridges loaded into the 250 round pouches that lined the bandolier around my waist. Satisfied at my handy work I left the welding station and proceeded to another station smooth off the final welds on the horizontal handhold and apply coats of finish and paint.

As I was finishing the polish I heard several sets of footsteps approaching and several sets of laughs. I smirked as my fellow trainees and might I say great friends of the last two years ruffled my hair. "So you finally finished this staff of yours Simon... only took you three weeks longer than the rest of us, but then again you never were the most quick minded or witted person of the group" my bunkmate 16 year old Gregory said as he gave me a congratulatory noogie.

I mock laughed "Well my overly impatient friend, you cannot rush perfection, just as you cannot rush stealth drills, lest you get electrocuted... AGAIN" I said back mockingly, getting the intended result with the larger less agile boy shaking his head and huffing in defeat.

Another of our team, Ander Smith, grabbed up the staff and looked it over "So what are you going to name it?"

I thought for a moment and smirked "It's name is _Vindex Umbra... Vengeful Shadow for those illiterate folk among us"_ I replied looking mockingly at Gregory who flipped me off. Taking my weapon back just as I heard the doors to the forge open with a smack.

"RECRUITS READY!" screamed our trainer, a large angry man that demanded we merely call him "Sir". We knew of no other name for him, even if we did, we didn't dare mutter it for fear of being beaten. The foul mouthed and even more foul tempered instructor stopped in front of me taking my newly finished Gun Staff and inspecting it smirking as he did "Good Job Simon. A simple yet elegantly effective and lethal weapon. But it took you several weeks longer than it should have to forge, which means you are at a severe disadvantage, you WILL take your final survival and combat trials at the same time as the rest of these other orphan soldiers, so if you die from not having enough time to train with and form a bond with your weapon and team, then that is your fault and your fault alone" Sir said as he stepped back and addressed the other 12 young teens aged from 14 to 16 in the room, all left orphaned by the White Fang during their first murderous rampage two years ago.

"Tomorrow you all begin training for your final test: one week alone with nothing but your weapons and each other in the Grimm Woods. Survive and you will be sent out into the fight against the White Fang. Die and it will be as if you never existed to us. AM I CLEAR?!" He yelled at us. All of us merely collectively gulped and nodded. Sir Smirked "Good now get some chow and get to bed, you have a big few days ahead." He turned on his heel and walked out and we followed obediently.

An hour later after some food, we crawled into our bunks and laid down to sleep, _Vindex Umbra _resting on set of hooks I had nailed into the wall. But I couldn't sleep, only another month and I'll either be dead or fighting to the death against those who put me into this situation in the first place The White Fang. My mind reflected upon my time here: From my arrival when Roman Torchwick had handed me off to several masked men at the farmhouse who brought me here to the camp way out in the middle of nowhere, over the next few weeks the rest of the orphans I now called my friends had arrived in similar circumstances, all found by Torchwick and handed off at the farmhouse. Slowly my hand raised to my throat which brought up a bad memory, my earliest memory of my time in the Black Fist. Sir carried a rattan cane for inflicting punishment upon us if we fucked up. I had only run afoul of the rattan cane he carried once, it was in my first week at the camp. I shuddered at the memory as it and its implications filled my head: Sir was lecturing us on the evilness of all Faunus... 

_"The Faunus if given the chance will enslave and destroy humanity, it is the job of the Black Fist to ensure this does not happen. The governments of the kingdoms gave the Faunus the chance to be our equals, and the disease the is the White Fang merely spat back in our faces and for two years has been terrorising humanity all over Remnant. Thus it is the view of the Black Fist that the Faunus can NOT be trusted as equals, to ensure the survival of Humanity, we must either enslave or eradicate the Faunus!" Sir had said. At this I had raised my hand and all eyes went to me  
"But sir, surely not all Faunus are bad? I lived in a Faunus community and my neighbours treated us all well, all my friends were Faunus, none of them seemed evi..." I never had the chance to finish my sentence as the rattan cane cut off my speech as it connected with my throat. I doubled over gasping for air. "Wrong Simon, if those so called friends weren't evil, why didn't they protect you? why did they let the White Fang kill your mum and your dad eh?!" I honestly had no answer to this so I merely nodded and sat silently to continue listening to the lecture.  
_

Sir had left my already fragile head in turmoil with that one statement... why didn't my neighbours especially the Scarlatina's assist my family when the White Fang came? At First I refused to believe my Faunus friends and their families capable of such betrayal and I merely sat silently during the lectures silently protesting and disagreeing, but after many more lectures from Sir and our other instructors as well as updates from all over Remnant about the atrocities that the White Fang had committed upon humanity, I eventually realised that my former friends were no longer my friends, or my equals, they were mere objects complicit in my parents death and needed to have punishment rendered upon them.  
From the point I came to that realisation onwards I was the most vocal supporter of the Black Fist and the most violent combatant in training, I was far from the most skilled or the smartest in the group but I was the most committed which kept me in my instructors good books, tonight as with every other night I dozed off with images of me killing Faunus in my head and a bloodthirsty smirk on my face.

It was mid morning on the combat range after Aura practice, which I had long learned to control and was moving onto attempting to discover my semblance (but was failing abysmally. It was my first fight with Vindex Umbra with its new black-gray paint scheme. Gregory was my opponent armed with his wrist mounted armoured flame thrower gauntlets and various daggers. We circled each other, I struck first. Lunging at Gregory's legs in an attempt to knock him down only to be met with an armoured forearm meeting my skull, I used my Aura to lessen the blow before vaulting to my side Swiping one of _Vindex Umbra's_ blades at Gregory who swatted it away with one armoured gauntlet while unleashing a burst of fire at me with the other. I barrel rolled, narrowly missing it apart from some singeing in my right arm, I lunged once more at Gregory feigning a swing with my staff but actually head butting the larger boy who reeled back with a broken nose as I pressed my advantage: unleashing a series of whirling blows utilising both blades of _Vindex Umbra_ to slash and stab at Gregory both high and low.

Gregory continued to back pedal barely able to contain my strikes... and then he smiled and unleashed both gauntlets flame throwers at me. I flipped back and brought up my Aura to shield myself, I was unharmed but I had lost my momentum. Gregory pulled two 30cm daggers and charged me stabbing at me. As good of an offensive weaponmy staff was, I hadn't the slightest idea how to defend with it. I attempted to again kick out Gregory's legs but he jumped the attempt and flipping off _Vindex Umbra's _steel shaft he got behind me and within a second had me in a headlock with a blade to my throat. "Guess I win Simon, better luck next time" Gregory said as he nicked my throat with the blade as a reminder of his victory. sheathing his daggers he left the combat area to get his nose reset. I was left there fuming at my loss, seeing a training dummy near the exit as I walked off the arena I whirled my staff over my head and brought the blade down, slicing it in two diagonally from the where the neck met the right shoulder to the base of the left set of ribs.

At Lunch Gregory sat across from me "Don't feel bad you lost to me today, I was at a Combat school before I ended up here so I have much more experience than you" he said half heartedly, knowing full well that our training here went far beyond what any combat school taught. "I know you're trying to make me feel better Gregory, but really... If I mess up out there, it's not just me who will pay the price, it is all of us. I mean only Five out of the last team they sent came home and three of them died in the infirmary. I DO NOT want that to happen here" I growled gesturing to the other 10 orphans sitting around us at our teams table. Gregory sighed in defeat, knowing how impossibly stubborn I was and how I never changed my mind once it was made.

I grabbed up _Vindex Umbra _and headed back out into the combat area where I proceeded to take on the training robots, barely noting the SDC logo on them and how new they looked, almost factory new... or at least they were until they met the pointy end of my staff. I trained non-stop all afternoon ignoring all calls for me as I continued to bombard the training robots with attacks and at times doing defensive exercises, but deciding the mantra _"The best defence was a good offence" _worked well for me. As darkness fell I finally stopped and trudged back inside.

Choosing not to eat dinner I took a quick shower and slunk straight into my bunk. Putting _Vindex Umbra _into its holder I lay down drifting off into a dreamless sleep. This pattern of me retreating off to train by myself most afternoons persisted for the next three weeks until the day before the final trial we were given the day off in order to pack and organise our gear. I was exhausted and I relished the day off as I polished and sharpened _Vindex Umbra._ Gregory walked up to me and handed me a drink of juice "drink this, it'll help with the nerves" he said as I took the cup and drank, instantly registering the strange taste and burning sensation in my throat. I coughed and looked at him

"wh-what was in that?" He merely smirked and ruffled my hair as he walked away handing each member of the team a similar cup. I finished off my cup without coughing it up this time and enjoyed the relaxing feeling that came over me as I continued to clean my weapon and pack my survival kit and lay out my camouflage uniform that we were all mandated to wear when outside of the camp and then headed back to the bunk room.

Upon reaching the bunk room I saw something that I'd never forget: Gregory Volker and Ander Smith drunkenly dancing while some of the others. At this I got angry, snatching up the bottle I threw it out the window, hearing another satisfying smash _'I'll never get tired of breaking things, especially glass things'_ I thought to myself as the music stopped and everyone stopped and stared at me. "Why the fucking hell would you do that Simon you little shit?" Gregory said in annoyance cracking his knuckles, itching for a fight.

"WHY? WHY?! because tomorrow we go out into the Grimm Wood, if we go there drunk we will die! How at a time like this could you even think about getting off your faces, I can understand one drink for the nerves, but NOT this! leave that until AFTER we get back safe and sound!" I screamed in a very authoritative tone letting my displeasure and sheer anger at their stupidity be obvious. The group of boys and girls in the Bunks all looked at me sheepishly and filed into bed. I merely shook my head and retreated into my bunk and slowly fell asleep.

Early the next morning I was Jostled awake by Gregory who was already clothed and geared "Rise and Shine _Shadow._ We leave in 55, so get showered and geared" he said as he popped several aspirin, it was obvious he was hung-over. I shook my head and got ready. 50 minutes later I was dressed in forest pattern camouflage and had _Vindex Umbra _slung over my back, sitting in a truck to be taken to the testing area. Everyone was nervous, especially Gregory and Sophia, the eldest, the only ones who had been in a combat school before ending up here and who had become de facto leaders to the younger recruits. It seemed like hours as the truck eventually slowed but didn't stop, it was then that Sir stood up "Ok you little shits, time to exit... you will jump out of this truck as it is doing 30 clicks down this dirt road NOW GO GO GO!" he shouted as he began pushing us out, I stood up and leapt out at an angle, aiming for and hitting the grassy slope at the side of the road, barrel rolling down and ending up laying in a tangled heap of gear at the bottom, but not injured whatsoever. Getting up and dusting myself off I saw that I had been lucky, Gregory had a gash in his head and Ander had a suspected broken ankle. Gregory grunted he and I supported Ander to get him up into the shade of the forest overlooking the road. Sophia Sighed looking worriedly around as most of our group were either patching themselves up or helping assemble a stretcher for Ander "Well what the fuck are we meant to do now?"

**A/N:**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW PEOPLE! :) also Internet cookies for the first person to spot the RvB reference I dropped in. -CC signing off


	6. The Trial of Death and Life

**Rewritten: 14/01/15**

**Chapter Six: The Trial Of Death and Life, Simon's PoV:**

"Well what the fuck are we meant to do now?" Asked Sophia.

With that Simon's jaw dropped "What you or Gregory didn't bother to make a plan?" I looked fiercely at my bunk mate who was assisting me to secure Ander to a stretcher and he shrugged. 

"Well we didn't exactly have much info to form a plan with Simon, no need to get into a huff like you did last night, we'll be fine" He replied confidently as he could.

I rolled my eyes and went back to work on Ander's stretcher "Well we should probably try and find some high ground to get a scope of the area, see if there is a river nearby" I offered as an idea to the obviously overwhelmed older members of the group.

"Good idea Simon. Jack, Simon... go forward and find some high ground, scope out the area to find any water courses or structures we can camp at." Gregory barked.

I looked at the older boy defiantly "Fuck off I' am going up there Gregory I' am staying here and helping Ander out" I turned back to Ander and helped him up so I could move him to his stretcher. Gregory wanted to yell at me I could tell but he didn't want to start a fight in front of the others.

Growling he turned to another boy, Levi "Ok Levi, you go with Jack instead Rest up and check your gear until they return, but be ready to move in case they run into trouble." We all nodded and went back to work as the two scouts jogged off up the hill.

About 20 minutes later having finished Ander's stretcher and having gotten him laid on in it. I took to checking my gear, disposing of the shattered set of binoculars that got broken in the jump and got pretty pissed when I noticed a chip in one of _Vindex Umbra's_ blades, swearing to take a swipe at whoever decided to boot us out of a moving truck. As I fumed Gregory walked over to me and punched my shoulder "Hey man, thanks for the idea back there... having peoples' lives in my hands is not something I really relish, but did you really need to be such a selfish dick in front of the others? You need to follow my directions because if you won't... who else will?" he said staring off over the road into the grassy glade across from it.

I chuckled sarcastically and faced him "Now let me tell you why I didn't volunteer for it: taking care of myself is all I' am trying to do, survival is my only goal at this point. My idea back there was as much for my benefit as it was for yours, keeping you all alive greatens my chance of getting back to camp and moving onto my next objective up from mere survival. I came up with that Idea because either some abandoned shack or a river is a much more defensible position than sitting out here by a road which could be used by White Fang cells" I replied deadpan and watching the realisation come to Gregory of what I was.

"So in short you only look out for yourself and those that can aid you? no heroes amongst us then I guess, just a bunch of self serving, self centred arseholes whose objectives seem to overlap at this very moment and would happily abandon one another to save our own skin." he replied implying that my line of thinking was how all 12 of us in the group thought about this situation.

"Yeah something like that, it might not be the best way to make things last, but it's certainly the best way to get things done aye?" I chuckled as I flipped the switch for _Vindex Umbra _to collapse into its compact carry mode: The shaft contracted to half its length and the blades collapsed upon themselves and folded under the shaft. once the process was completed I placed the staff into its holder on my back and gathered up my gear "The scouts should be back soon, and Ander will need to be moved and protected, he can't walk on that ankle, it's a shame we don't have any morphine to help with the pain, poor fellow" I said getting a phantom pain in my ankle as I could emphasise with him for what happened.

Gregory smirked "So you actually care about Ander's health"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I care about my team mates and their health, if I got to carry his stretcher I'd much rather him be in a drug induced haze rather than bitching to me every five seconds that the movement bumped his foot wrong and it now hurts, that shit'll drive me around the fucking bend" I said in mock contempt as I began walking towards the rest of the group in time to see Levi jogging back into the area stopping when he had reached Sophia.

"Jack found a small clearing by a stream about 2km into the Grimm Wood, no sightings of Grimm thus far, he sent me back and began making his way there on his own" he said rapid fire without pause for breath.

Sophia face palmed at this news "That idiots going to get himself killed wandering these woods alone! Levi do you know where this clearing is?" seeing Levi nod while catching his breath she made her plan "Levi you'll lead myself and three others to this clearing to back up jack and secure the area." by this time Gregory and myself had made our way over, with informed guesses of our orders  
"Gregory, Simon you and the others who don't come with Levi and myself will follow behind carrying Ander with you, we'll mark the path to the clearing as Levi shows us the way. understood? good... ok people lets go. Sarah, Tia and Ben with me, the rest follow Gregory." With this she and her team were jogging off into the Grimm Woods following Levi. 

"No offence Gregory, but you're sister makes a much better leader than you... not to mention she is literate." I smirked taking another jab at my friends difficulty at writing which earned me a clip around an ear and an expletive ridden grumble about_ 'why he bothers being my mate'_.

I shook my head as I lifted my end of Ander's stretcher while Gregory grabbed the other end and called out to our team "ok people follow me and keep your eyes peeled, if anything attacks keep it away from Ander.

With that we moved off, as per my prediction progress was slow and filled with pained outbursts from Ander about how much his foot hurt "ouch oh come one guys be a bit more gentle would ya?" Ander bitched for about the 100th time in the last hour.

I had had enough "Ander I swear if you bitch about the pain once more, I'll dump your ass out of this stretcher and make you walk unsupported? clear? good, now shut your bitch mouth up!" I growled to him. After that the rest of the walk passed in silence. Another 30 minutes later we reached the clearing without seeing any Grimm whatsoever and were happy to see a small wooden huntsman's waypoint hut there as well, full of canned and preserved food, ammo, dust and medical/survival gear used by Huntsmen and Huntresses who used to patrol out here before the guerrilla war between the White Fang and Black Fist broke out in the land outside of the major settlements along the Trans-continental Rail Network. I breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Jack shoot out the lock on that door and opening it up for Gregory and I to bring Ander inside. _'Lady luck smiles upon me once more, just got to wait out the week now'_ I thought to myself as we lifted Ander out of his stretcher and onto one of Four beds in the hut and injected him with some of the morphine from the medical cabinet. "Now that you have a nice soft bed and some painkillers, I don't want to hear any more bitching out of you ok Ander? or I'll take your foot and your manhood off with Vindex!" I said in mock seriousness, but Ander got the point and agreed not to gripe anymore. With that I took a packet of beef jerky and left the hut and finding a shady spot by the creek to doze off in the afternoon sun.

I was jolted from my siesta by a shake of the shoulder and a scream in my ear that could only be Gregory "Wake up you lazy little shit... Grimm in the woods!"

I was alert in an instant and had _Vindex Umbra _out of its holder and set to its gun mode at my hip as I loaded a cartridge pouch from my bandolier into it and rammed the bolt home "Gregory a direction would be helpful right about now!" I barked at my companion who had an assault rifle out, seeing as his daggers and gauntlets didn't do him much good in ranged combat.

"To the Left, up the hill in the trees!" came the reply and I swung around to see a pack of Beowolves numbering about three dozen charging down the hill towards our group.

"Right then, lets see what this baby can do!" I yell as I let fly a burst of tracer fire into the pack of Grimm, felling two of them with multiple headshots. I continue to fire off bursts as my comrades also joined in with their ranged weapons or rifles if they only possessed melee personal weapons but the wolves didn't retreat only continue charging us even as we cut down nearly 20 of them before they got close enough that we had to switch to out to melee weapons lest we accidentally shoot a teammate. Upon hearing the satisfying _click_ of _Vindex Umbra's _blades locking into place.

I charged the nearest wolf ducking under a swipe from its claws and slashing across its chest with my staff, before spinning on my heel and launching an upwards stabbing motion into the beasts throat to finish the job. Looking around to see that the other Beowolves had been slain to the last I sighed in relief at how easily the Beowolves had gone down, at least I did until the blood curdling scream could be heard from Sophia as she ran to Tia's fallen body; a large chunk from her torso missing from a Beowolf bite, her weapon still impaled in the offending beast that laid yelping a few meters away, It was quickly silenced by a shot from Gregory's rifle. No one cried, no one said a single word. Despite the fact we had all experienced the deaths of our families, we were all in shock at the loss of someone whom had shared every aspect of our lives for two years. it was then we all knew this was for real and that to fuck up meant to die and that's how it would be from now until the time when our luck ran out and we fell in battle.

"Ok so who will help me bury her" was the first words that came from the silence, they came from Gregory who had picked up a shovel from nearby. Levi and Sarah stepped forward and went out into the tree line to begin their grim task while the rest of us piled up the wolf corpses and prepared to burn them as to not attract more creatures looking for their brethren .

Once the grave was prepared we all gathered round and laid Tia to rest, not a word was said during it and we all slunk off to be by ourselves for a while to process what had happened and to try and work out how to handle what would come without any more of us getting killed. I Sighed as sat down beneath the tree I had been dozing under before the fight, I hadn't spent much time with Tia except when her and Sophia were training or hanging out with Gregory and myself in our spare time (not that we had much of it) and I suddenly felt regret at not getting to get to know Tia or the other members of my team beyond Gregory, Levi, Jack and Sophia. Tia had been Sophia's closest friend through training and as I looked across towards the hut to see Sophia crying into her brother's shoulder to which I felt some form of pity and remorse towards my friend and her brother.

As the Sun set we set alight the pyre of Beowolf carcases with hopes the flames would ward off any Grimm that maybe lurking nearby as those who remained huddled in the Huntsman's hut and tried to sleep, not that any of us did. Most of us were too afraid or hyped up on adrenaline and nerves to even consider closing our eyes. I Sat in the back corner in the shadows with one of the blankets from the hut wrapped around me and _Vindex Umbra _held protectively to my chest. I jolted upright as I heard the familiar howl of Beowolves in the distance as did everyone else, in the dark I heard weapons being loaded and bolts driving rounds home as we all listened to the howls and breathing a collective sigh of relief as they grew more distant.

**3 Days Later**

As we exited the hut on the 4th day of our test, having not seen any Grimm since our first skirmish Gregory decided to bring Ander out to get a bit of fresh air as Ander had been bitching again about being cooped up inside. In an attempt to not skull bash our injured comrade. Levi and myself began wading across the creek to do a bit of exploring, to search for signs of Grimm on the far side of the creek. "Yo Simmo, how you feeling after the first day? our first taste of combat, went well I think, got myself three Beowolves" he said with exaggerated confidence, twirling his weapons (a pair of tomahawks with inbuilt SMG's) trying to hide the fear and pain from losing a team mate.

I chuckled weakly, deciding to just go along with it "only three? I got four with my machine gun and then one with my blades. better luck next time Levi." After that awkward exchange we walked along silently for about another 10 minutes before Levi piped up again, this kid always did hate silence with a passion.

"So Simmo, where do you think we'll end up after this trial finishes?" he asked with genuine curiosity. I thought about it for a moment

"We'll probably be split up and sent off to different parts of Atlas, maybe even into different kingdoms, so this trial is probably our last days as a team" I replied deadpan. My eyes still scanning the surrounding forest, before we hear a crash of trees and a Deathstalker comes crashing through the woods chasing a Beowolf, snatching the wolf up in its pincers and severing it in half. The Deathstalker discarding one half while waving the other around in its pincer. Levi and I stood perfectly still in both awe and shock at this beast.

"Well isn't that just a beast and a half" Levi whispered as I resisted the urge to whack him over the head for the horrid pun. Slowly we backed away until Levi tripped over a rock which gained us the attention of the Deathstalker. Levi scampered up and began running as I drew _Vindex Umbra _before following Levi's example of running for it.

"Levi you fuck up... if we survive this I' am going to murder you! for getting its attention and your stupid puns!" I yelled to my bumbling friend as we ran for our lives. We reached the creek and saw the rest of the team already armed and ready.

"KILL IT... KILL IT WITH FIRE!" Levi screamed as we both began wading through the creek closely followed by the Deathstalker.

"Gladly!" came the reply from Gregory as he ran towards the massive Grimm, his gauntlets loaded ready to burst forth flame. As he neared it the Deathstalker took a swipe at him, but Gregory merely vaulted himself over the pincers and slide under the Deathstalker's belly unleashing a long burst of flame as he went, charring the underside of the beast as it screeched in pain and tried to move around to get at Gregory with its pincers. But as it Moved to get a shot at Gregory it was instead struck along it's underside again, This time by me firing _Vindex Umbra _up into its unarmoured belly, the Grimm collapsed and died from the onslaught of lead and fire.

Unfortunately for me, when it collapsed I was still under it. When it fell onto me It squeezed the air out of me "Oh holy shit this fucker is heavy" I cursed under my breath as I began trying to move, only to find myself pinned down. _'Oh fuck so this is how it ends for me? crushed by a fucking fat fucker of a Grimm' _my mind cursed my stupidity at trying to emulate Gregory. But never one to resign myself to anything I kept squirming, trying to inch myself towards the edge of the now dead beast and freedom. It was then I felt the Deathstalker move _'Oh shit, it aint dead, only pissed off' _ as I readied myself to bolt once it the Grimm moved upwards it instead rolled over to reveal my team that had just exhausted themselves trying to lift the beast to get to me. I laughed maniacally with relief "Took you guys long enough, I was beginning to get bored down there" I joked mockingly.

"yeah yeah whatever Simmo, just go down to the creek and wash up, you look and smell disgusting" Levi said holding his nose. It was then I noticed the Grimm blood and burnt flesh and the stench that went with it clinging to my clothes.

"Ugh fine, as you wish" I said as I waded into the creek, stripping off my uniform shirt and bandolier to avoid my dust cartridges getting spoiled as I cleansed myself of the blood, dirt and gore. That night the group was in much higher spirits than we were for the last few nights as we regaled in the story of today, having scored a victory against such a large Grimm without losing anyone had gotten us all out of the dumps, even Ander was a bit more cheerful having seen our fight today from his stretcher by the hut. As I lay down that night having taken first guard watch in order to get uninterrupted sleep until the morning I found my nerves much more at ease and I had no problem getting to sleep this night.

**The Next Day**

I awoke early, just after sunrise and went outside, not straying far from the hut to take a walk a little down the creek. about 500m down the creek I heard the sound of something splashing in the water. Ducking behind a bush I looked further downstream, it was then I noticed a Faunus girl, about my age gathering up some fishing traps, laden with fish. As I began to back away, hoping that lady luck will smile upon me and allow me to get away unseen I slipped on some river rocks and went arse over head into the freezing cold water. This startled the girl who sat there frozen in panic as I stood up cursing with every swear I knew as freezing water soaked through my camouflage uniform down to my very bones which left me shivering as well as cursing. I looked up to see The girl just sitting there giggling innocently, I began laughing as well and waded out of the freezing creek only to be offered a blanket by the young Faunus. "Thank-you, I really needed that. So what brings you all the way out here into the Grimm Wood?" I asked in genuine curiosity about why a lone Faunus would be out here.

"My family lives out here, so do many other Faunus, places like this are the only place that we can exist in peace from harassment from the Kingdom's governments and the Black Fist." She replied, it was then she noticed the Velcro patch on my shoulder with a Black Fist emblem embroidered onto it as well as _Vindex Umbra _strapped to my back. Her face went from curious humour at my sudden appearance and fall into the creek to horror at the fact I was the enemy. "D-don't hurt me, please... I' am not at member of the White Fang, nor is my family." she said fearfully.

I shook my head "I don't kill innocent unarmed people or Faunus, only those who try to harm me... and that is a big list already which I'd prefer not to add to" I replied slowly and cautiously as I drew _Vindex Umbra _and placed it onto the ground "See, unarmed, I mean no harm to you."

The Faunus girl looked relieved "I didn't know the Black Fist recruited so young, you couldn't be more than 15" She said still uneasy about what I was.

"Actually I' am 14, and I've been with the Fist since I was 12." I replied sitting down next to her "By the way, the names Simon." I said holding my hand out in greeting, inside my head my conscience happy that it had won out over my anger which wanted to cut down the Faunus girl and take her food.

"My names Alia and I' am 15, pleased to meet you, even if you wear the uniform of Faunus haters" Alia replied accepting my hand and shaking it. I decided to let the remark on my uniform and the Black Fist slide. We talked for about an hour, about our friends, about Alia's family and home at the edge of the Grimm Wood, I showed her _Vindex Umbra _and bragged on how I'd designed and forged it myself. All the while my conscience was slowly convincing me that I had been wrong to throw all Faunus into the same lot as the White Fang.

"SIMON, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Came the call from Gregory in the distance, obviously I had lost track of time.

"Oh fuck, Alia, you need to get out of here. I don't think my friends would be as welcoming of you as I' am." I stood and handed her the basket and her blanket back.

"Ok Simon, It was nice to meet you, maybe we'll meet again soon." as she turned to leave I grabbed her arm.

"Remember don't tell ANYONE you saw me, or the consequences for a lot of people could be dire." I said in a low serious growl. Alia nodded and ran off into the woods along a faint, well hidden path. I Smiled as I saw her run away, a small piece of innocence and humanity returning to my heart and my constant anger and hate flowing out.

I was smiling like an idiot when my team found me. "Christ Simon, you gave us a fucking heart attack when you weren't at the hut" Levi snapped at me, clipping me across the ears.

"Oh sorry guys, just lost track of time and I needed time to dry off, as I took an impromptu dip into the water" I replied sheepishly pointing to my still damp uniform.

Levi and Gregory laughed to the point of choking "Nice one you dunce, next time try not to do that this early, you'll get pneumonia" Gregory said clipping me across the ears much as Levi had.

"Ok let's get you back to the Hut" Levi said as they turned and began walking back to the hut me still shivering, following along behind them.

It had been an uneventful day, We had seen a pair of Nevermore in the distance engaged in an aerial dogfight but neither of them came close enough to cause us trouble. It is a sight we all would remember until the day we died and it left us with more stories to tell that night as we sat down to eat dinner just as dusk fell on Day 5 of our trial, we were all relaxed and in high spirits engaged in a conversation about who would win out of a Deathstalker and a King Taijitu , everyone was just beginning on the snake Grimm when out of nowhere machinegun fire began riddling the hut. We all dove to the ground clutching our weapons "What the actual fuck if going on!" Gregory yelled as he dove down next to me.

A scream was heard, we all feared someone had been hit. "Don't worry it's just me, I rolled out of bed and landed on my fucking ankle" came the pained reply from Ander who was still cursing under his breath.

"Bro if we stay here, we die. we NEED to get out of this hut" Sophia yelled as she jumped up and vaulted herself through window, but she never made it. The moment her head popped up out of the window, it exploded from a round hitting her. she slumped half in the hut, half hanging out the window.

I looked over to Gregory, who was positively livid at seeing his sister die, a jet black Aura permeated around him as he charged right out the front door in a blind rage.

A red-white glow surrounded me as I followed Gregory close behind, the glow deflecting bullets off of our Auras, but it was draining on us. I drew _Vindex Umbra _and set it to machine gun mode and began firing on the muzzle flashes around the tree line, hearing several satisfying screams.

By now the rest of the team had filed out of the hut, just in time to see a rocket hit it, destroying it. The fireball that erupted lit up the area, we saw our Faunus attackers clear as day force their eyes into their hands as the flash temporarily blinded them due to their enhanced night vision multiplying the brightness of the flash. Using this to our advantage we all charged, well except me as I was content with unleashing tracer fire upon the would-be attackers, taking down four of them before their vision returned.

I saw two coming towards me, vaulting and flipping like wannabe ninjas. I flipped the switch and heard the satisfying sound of blades extending and clicking into place and my cartridge pouch dropping to the ground. I stood side on, my _Vindex Umbra_ held horizontally on my left side as I saw the two attackers draw sabres and charge me. I leaped to the one closing in on my right side, the first attacker who I now saw was clad in White Fang uniform complete with Grimm mask raised his sabre and struck down towards me, I took a knee and blocked the blow with one of my staff's blades and pushed it the blade to the right as I commando rolled left as the 2nd attacker closed in and tried to stab me from behind but missed due to my roll.

I regained my feet and faced both my attackers. We circled each other for about 10 seconds and I lunged in again with a series of whirling blows, aiming low with one blade before immediately twirling _Vindex Umbra _in my hands to bring the other blade to bare with a downwards blow at the opponents shoulder which he blocked. With our weapons locked together and both of us wrestling to get the upper hand, the 2nd attacker lunged at me. Seeing this I ducked and launched myself into a back flip over the 2nd attacker, landing behind him I quickly spun on my heel and performed a horizontal slash at the 2nd attacker who hadn't quite gotten around yet. My blade struck home just above the attackers hip but below the rib cage, shredding through the soft tissue of his abdomen. The first White Fang attacker seeing his friend fall charged me unleashing a quick volley of strikes which I barely defended. On the back foot and the defensive I back peddled, not seeing the root behind me, I stumbled and lost my grip on _Vindex Umbra. _As the attacker came in for the killing blow, a dagger impaled itself into his throat, felling the attacker I looked up to see a bruised and battered Gregory, Blood spilling out of a gash in his cheek bone. He smiled and give me a thumbs up as he ran past and retrieved his dagger before charging another White Fang soldier.

I grabbed _Vindex Umbra _and charged back into the fray. catching a White Fang soldier off guard, he never saw the blade coming behind him that separated his head from his shoulders.

I moved onto the next who carried a double bladed staff much like mine. We traded blows alternating blades. Both of us trying to use spins, kicks and flips to gain an advantage. After a good minute of trading and blocking blows I kick the Faunus in the groin with my steel toed combat boot and vault backwards, transforming _Vindex Umbra _into its gun mode in mid air, As I land I load a cartridge pouch and slam a round home, unleashing a burst of at least 30 rounds into the Faunus, still disoriented from the boot to the balls. The attacker fell limp as Gregory finished off the last attacker with a burst of flame about 30 metres away.

I slumped against a tree and looked around the clearing, now a mess of flame and bodies. I saw only 5 from our group apart from me left standing. missing were Ander, Jack, Sophia, Jacob and Samuel. "Gregory, Where's Ander? did her make it out of the Hut?" Gregory looked over to me and simply looked away, that was all I needed to answer my question.

Levi walked up to me and sat next to me "How did they find us? We hadn't seen any traces of look outs or White Fang in our area as we made our way here from the peak." He said between puffs, looking dirty and exhausted. I pondered this and as much as I already knew the answer, my conscience screamed at me not to admit it or take action to avenge the betrayal. But I silenced my conscience, as every time I listened to it, people around me got hurt or died. I stood and picked up _Vindex Umbra_ and a pistol from one of the White Fang soldiersand began walking into the forest.

"Simon, where are you going?" Gregory called.

"To set this right Gregory, don't follow me, this is something I must do alone. Try to find a working radio and call Sir, they will need to know of the White Fang activity here." I call back before disappearing into the night like the Vengeful Shadow I had become.

Finding the path and following it was easy enough, it led me parallel to the creek for about 5km which I covered in less than an hour. It led me to a group of about 6 small houses. As I edged closer I Saw Alia and her family sitting down for dinner through an open kitchen window along with them was a man wearing White Fang uniform minus the Grimm Mask.

Moving towards the front of the house I saw two guards at the door, slowly I raised my pistol and fired two quick shots, one entering each guards skulls. I Quickly charged inside and reached the kitchen Smacking the White Fang officer in the face with the pistol, knocking him unconscious before aiming it at the family who sat frozen in fear of the bloodied, singed and dirty person who had violently invaded their home.

"Now now Alia, didn't I say the consequences would be dire for a lot of people if you told anyone about me or my friends?" I asked in a numb, deadpanned voice that hid the boiling anger I was currently feeling.

The little girl merely nodded her Father then stood and boomed at me "How dare you intrude our peace, we were merely doing what was needed to protect our territ..." He never finished his sentence as a bullet entered his throat and he fell to the ground drowning in his own blood.

"Stupid old man" I spat at him before turning my gun on the two women "Alia, because you couldn't keep your mouth shut: Five of my friends are now dead, as is every White Fang soldier that was sent our way, the two guards outside, your father!" I screamed at the two women.

"I' am so so sorry Simon, I didn't think my parents would tell the White Fang when they came to pick up their monthly supply consignment" Alia pleaded. I looked on emotionlessly 

"Well sorry doesn't cut it for the five friends I lost tonight, Sorry Alia... It's only vengeance" I fired off two more rounds, one for the mother and one for Alia, finishing off my revenge for my friends. I searched the house and found a store of volatile dust powder. upon spreading it out all over the house and towards the entrance, I lit a match and threw it into the house before running. to escape the explosion the rocked the area, destroying the house and all those inside it. I walked back along the path towards the hut I felt nothing, nothing except a burning hate and distrust for all Faunus, not just those who fight against humanity openly or who played a part in my families death.

As I returned to what remained of the Hut and saw Gregory burying his sister. Upon looking at me and seeing the steely look in my eye, he knew I had taken vengeance upon but also knew I'd never share the details, we merely nodded to acknowledge each other's presence and that we had survived. "I radioed base and explained to them what happened, the nearest Black Fist unit, The 6th Noble Company, 117th Regiment is 20km away and will be here by sun up" Gregory said as he slumped against a tree, his arms shaking in both shock and rage.

I clasped my hand on his shoulder "Bro, we'll get the White Fang back for this many times over before this ends, I promise you that." He nodded and we sat in silence for the rest of that night. As the Sun rose we heard the sound of engine motors as several trucks and armed cars pulled up around the hut and Black Fist soldiers swamped the area.

Two officers walked up to Gregory and myself "I 'am Major Donavon Looks like you guys had one hell of a fight, It's a shame you lost so many friends, I on behalf of the 6th Noble extend our condolences." The taller silver haired officer said shaking both our hands. "We'll finish securing the area and flushing out any Faunus scum in the area. You guys are being sent back to the base you came from. The truck over to your left is your transport, off you go" Donavon said pointing out the truck.

Gregory, Levi, Myself and the other three, Sarah, Alex and Ben who also survived got into the back of the truck and sat silently as it drove us back to the training base, upon reaching it the other teams who also trained there looked upon us in awe and pity as we jumped off, bruised, battered, bloodied and half the team we once were.

When we arrived back at base, Sir stomped up to us looking angrier than he had ever been "HOW DARE YOU CALL FOR HELP... HOW DARE YOU USE THAT RADIO AND CUT YOUR TRIAL SHORT! I GOT A MIND TO SEND YOU BACK OUT THERE UNARMED!" he bellowed at us, which earned him an upper cut from Gregory's armoured fist.

"Oh shut up you pompous old fool!" and we all passed the training instructors unconscious form as a group, our faces steeled, passive, showing no emotion as we were stopped by a group of high ranking Black Fist members and the camp commander.

"I' am Brigadier Carvel, Commanding officer of the 117th Regiment. Well congratulations are in order, we have been searching for that cell of White Fang for some months, seemed they thought you easy prey." A man wearing a worn and battered Atlas military uniform with several medal ribbons said as his aide walked up holding several scrolls. handing one to each of the survivors, except me. "These scrolls hold your new postings across Atlas where you will fight alongside the more conventional forces that the Black Fist have fielded to rid this world of the scourge of the White Fang and ensure human dominance for decades to come." The Brigadier explained.

"Umm Brigadier, where is my scroll?" I asked spreading my palms to emphasise that they are empty, only for a scroll to be thrown into them from the shadows of the alley between buildings we were standing near.

Looking up I saw a cigar light up "Oh hello again there kid, you've grown since I last saw you" came a familiar voice that I identified as none other than Roman Torchwick, red bangs, bowler hat, weaponised pimp can and all.

"Oh fuck, This can't possibly end well for me can it?" I said not knowing what to expect from Roman.

"Aren't you glad to see me? not even a 'Hello'? I' am disappointed in you Simon" came the reply in the same condescending voice I remember from that alley.

I merely grunted "Well what do you want Roman?"

"Same thing you want Simon, The Faunus who killed your parents and the police officers you sheltered with afterwards." Roman said smirking. A fire began to burn in My eyes and rage filled my soul, finally my chance at revenge, the only thing I craved more than survival. An opportunity to make things right by killing those who killed my parents.

As Roman and I walked away from my former team and the other members of the Black fist towards a waiting Bullhead airship "Roman, I know I told you this two years ago, but I' am in."

**A/N: **This is the single biggest single chapter I have ever written up til now. I feel pretty proud about that. Hope those of you who are reading this enjoy a bit, well a lot of darkness... because that's where Simon is headed. Remember to please review if you liked it, or even if you didn't. -CC Signing off.


	7. A New Team, A New Mission

**Rewritten: 16/01/15**

**Chapter Seven: A New Team, A New Mission. Simon's PoV:**

It had been a long, boring, silent ride aboard the Bullhead. Roman busied himself on his scroll and making phone calls, putting together plans or taking care of whatever side business he runs while helping out the Black Fist, I wasn't stupid I knew Roman was in this for personal gain, not loyalty to humanity or revenge like I was and would almost certainly be running some scam on the side for Lien. I on the other hand sat staring out of the Bullhead's open side. It was the first time I had ever flown before, and I don't like it one bit, I was terrified of falling and of heights. This led to me fidgeting a lot and trying to find something else to look at rather than out to the ground some 100m below which failed miserably so i conceded defeat and tried to enjoy the view and my first flight. Finally as the sun was setting and i was getting airsick from no longer seeing the horizon the Bullhead reached the summit of a plateau nestled in the Atlesian Alps well hidden among the other taller mountains and the snowy forests that covered the area. upon this summit were three more Bullheads under covered shelters to protect from the elements and several demountable buildings. The Bullhead landed on the marked and lit landing pad, as soon as it ceased moving I jumped out, ran off the landing pad and threw up what little there was in my stomach in an extremely violent fashion. "Oh look, the poor bastard's airsick, didn't you provide barf bags Roman?" I heard a voice in the background. 

"Ha Shauno, didn't you hear, Roman traded the barf bags for money bags, which he didn't share with us." came a 2nd voice. Having emptied my stomach i stood up and headed towards the demountable building that several people had gathered at including Roman.

"Right then kid, now that you're no longer making an ass of yourself, I'll leave you with a part of the hopefully more than capable team I have assembled, I on the other hand have work to do, Try not to blow anything up like the last time I brought a new arrival" Roman said in his most condescending tone with that he turned around and swaggered off twirling his pimp cane as he smoked a cigar.

I turn to see two men, who looked to be in their mid to late twenties wearing white snow suits. Both carried sniper rifles in their hands, and one had a shotgun across his back while the other had an assault rifle."Well looks like the new thief... umm i mean procurer of goods which are not his has finally arrived" The sniper wielding soldier said as both of them began to chuckle at their own stupid joke.

"Whatever, now before you assholes try to insult me again, mind at least telling me your names and getting me out of the cold" I replied still feeling sick and irritated, as well as now cold due to the snow, altitude and my lack of warm gear.

"Oh what do you think Shauno? should we let the little urchin in? or make him sleep outside like the little runaway he is" The shotgun wielding Soldier joked only to be interrupted by the sound of blades and shaft extending and locking into place then the metal shaft of _Vindex Umbra _being rammed into his throat forcing him into the wall of the building

"Mate, I don't know if you're really this much of an asshole, or just putting extra effort for me. But I have just lost six of my friends in the last week, fought for my life against the White Fang and butchered the family that told the Fang where to find us. And yet you think that it's still a good idea to annoy me?! One more smartass remark and I WILL gut you.. got it!" I yelled at the man and pushed hard onto his throat before backing away and letting him slump down to the ground.

Shauno, the other soldier opened up the door "Up the Hallway, last door on the right is your room. Try to wake up in a better mood, otherwise we're going to have problems you little shit, now out of my sight" he said in a angry, threatening tone. I didn't say anything, merely putting _Vindex Umbra _back onto my back, picking up my bags and walking inside, totally ignoring the other members of the team sitting in what looked to be a kitchenette and common area who had heard the scuffle outside. upon reaching my room i found that i had it to myself, smiling weakly at that small mercy (for whoever would have had to bunk with me) I locked the door, dumped my gear, stripped off and crashed into bed, falling asleep within moments.

I woke up the next morning groggy and covered in a cold sweat. I suddenly felt very alone and very afraid in the unfamiliar and tiny room. It took me a moment to remember the day before and that I was no longer bunking with Gregory, Levi and Jack. Looking at my watch that showed 5:22am I groaned as I remembered by scuffle with Shauno and his mate. "Oh hell, I' am going to owe them one hell of an apology for that" I muttered to myself as i dressed into another set of camo clothes, still shivering from the lack of warmth they provided and opened up the door to find several sets of folded white-gray pants and jacket with hood.

Taking the pile inside and changing out of the dull green, brown and black splotchy camo and into the new white-gray pattern I felt much warmer and instantly felt my mood improve drastically. Walking out into the common area I saw Seven similarly clad men at a table that seemed to be playing cards who all turned to look at me, sizing me up The Shotgun wielding sniper from last night stood up, towering over me by nearly a foot and held his hand out to shake it "After you locked yourself in your room, we were told what happened during your teams trial in the Grimm Wood, I guess Shauno and I were acting like a couple of Assholes. The names Kale by the way, Shauno and I will be your cover on missions." He said ashamed at his conduct last night. I accepted and shook his hand and took a seat around the table looking at the men carefully, most of them looked in their 20's or 30's, a couple of them looked older.

I was offered a cup of coffee by Shauno who took his seat, the eldest looking of the group stood up "Right well let's get to introductions, I'am Captain Ty Kruger and this bunch of degenerates is _Rum Squad_, you have already met Corporals Shaun Morgan and Kale Smyth That make up our scout sniper team, despite being the most impatient dumbasses I have ever met and unfortunately as Shauno said last night they will be the ones you work most closely with they are competent snipers/spotters. The others in the team are Corporal David Sanderson and Privates Danny Wagner, Lachlan McLean and Luke Coleman. You are the 8th and final member of the squad, picked because according to the report your instructors sent: you're an accomplished thief of food, equipment as well as a competent picker or smasher of locks." The old Captain looked up at me smirking.

I looked down sheepishly "Well I couldn't help it if the instructors kept the best food and gear to themselves, my team needed the food and gear more than they did those stupid fat fucks." At the last remark about the camps training staff the squad fell down laughing.

"Oh I didn't see that one coming, can we keep him Capt." Shauno said between gasps for air, the atmosphere of tension that had been created last night vanishing in an instant as we all felt more at ease.

"Right then Kale, Shauno. Take Simon out into the forest, see how he handles the snow and the cold. Bring him back about 10 tonight." Captain Kruger ordered despite the groans and bitching from the two marksmen.

As they draped themselves in their white-gray cloaks and picked up their weapons "Come on kid, time to teach you how to lay in the snow like a sniper and not get your balls frozen off" Shauno grunted, trying to cheer himself up with humour.

By the time we got into the Forest it was about 6am and the sun was just beginning to shine through the mountain mist, I had to admit it was beautiful up here despite the fact it was cold, the snow was wet and downright miserable to trudge through with it up to my knees. Not at all like what I had been led to believe it was like by the movies i watched as a kid. After the first hour of stumbling through the snow the snipers stopped and began laughing.

"Ok Shauno he's had enough, give them to him" Kale said as Shauno reached into his pack and grabbed out a set of snowshoes for me, like the ones they wore.

My Jaw dropped "you motherfuckers, that isn't cool, I can barely feel my legs right now!" I yelled at them as i extricated myself from the knee deep snow and put on the snow shoes, suddenly not sinking into the snow i breathed a sigh of relief, turning to my poor excuses for instructors "Anything else you got in that bag for me that's going to help me out here?" Shauno merely shrugged and began walking again with me following behind walking in a much more relaxed manner.

Over the course of the next five hours I was taught several basic rules of snow survival and how to move quietly, quickly and efficiently over snowy terrain. As we stopped for lunch made up of soup from and coffee that Kale had brought with him. "So what's the story behind you guys? You obviously aren't former Atlesian Military like Captain Kruger and a lot of other Black Fist members i know, but you do seem to know what you're doing survival wise." I asked, wanting to try and break the ice a bit more with these guys.

The two snipers looked at each other. "Well before Roman offered us a good deal of Lien for our services, we actually worked for the Schnee Dust Company in their Special Security Branch, basically their own private army to protect their Dust trains and refineries by pre-emptively targeting the White Fang members who we had identified as going to commit acts against SDC." Shauno commented, for once saying something serious. 

"Most of the fighters in the Black Fist are either ex-Atlesian military, who are unhappy with the restraints that are placed on them when it comes to dealing with the White Fang, that is that they can only defend settlements and infrastructure, not actively attack the Fang. Or are residents in the outer settlements and colonies of the kingdoms who have had to put up with Faunus aggression since before the Faunus War with a few ex-Huntsmen and Huntresses turned rogue. Despite the illusion of peace in the cities where the army keeps violence to a minimum, there is a real war going on in the wilderness between the Faunus Represented by the White Fang with an unknown amount of fighters and the residents of the colonies and settlements represented by the Black Fist which numbers some 6000 members across the Kingdoms of Atlas." Kale chimed in as he finished his soup. 

I nodded, then frowned at how expansive this war was, across the kingdom involving thousands of men and women. Kale and Shauno stood and I got up to follow only to be signalled to stop "Wait here 10 minutes, we're going see how good you are at a bit of hide and seek, oh and in this version ,you get shot at" Shauno said as he racked the bolt on his sniper rifle. My eyes widened as they disappeared into the white abyss that was the snow covered forest.

10 minutes later I was sneaking as quietly as i could through the snow, trying to blend in using my white camo, but being not used to snow I ended up stumbling several times, until one time out of nowhere there was a loud _CRACK _as a bullet flew just over my head and blew the tree behind me into nothing but bits of twig "Oh fuck, you crazy assholes... you nearly killed me!" I yelled in the general direction the that the offending bullet came from and dashed behind a fallen tree gasping for air due to the thinner air in the high mountains.

As I tried to catch my breath another bullet whistled above my head, _'oh come on, this is bullshit' _my mind fumed to myself as more well aimed sniper rounds flew in. Deciding to approach this tactfully, I began crawling across the ground parallel to the direction of the shots were coming until they stopped whizzing over my head. _'Good, means they have lost sight of me' _a small smirk came over my face as i began crawling towards the direction that the shots came.

After about 30minutes of crawling I arrived at a small divot in a pile of dirt and several shell casings, it was Obvious they had moved. _'Of course they aren't that dumb' _I thought to myself just as both Sniper and Assault rifle rounds smacked into the snow mound in front of me "Oh come on, no fair! That's it, Fuck this!" I yelled and Vaulted over the mound, my Red-White Aura deflecting rounds, I zeroed in on the muzzle flashes, zigzagging using trees as cover from the fire concentrating on not stumbling over the snowshoes I wore.

As I drew closer I saw Shauno take the shotgun from Kale's back and start lobbing buckshot at me, impossible to dodge but easy to mitigate with my aura, I flipped into their hide _Vindex Umbra _drawn and slammed the staff into Kale's throat, causing him to clutch his throat for breath and Shauno to drop the shotgun.

"Ok Ok, we surrender. Damn where'd you learn to summon an aura like that, I thought that sort of thing was only taught in combat schools and academies." Shauno said as he stepped over to Kale to check on him. Just as i was about to answer him.

Kale's radio crackled "Playtime is over kiddies, meeting in the HQ building in 45, Be there or I'll feed you to McLean to use as his punching bags." Kruger's voice crackled. Shauno helped Kale up and we all began walking back, wondering what was in store for us.

40 Minutes later we sat in the warm HQ building as Roman walked in holding his scroll "Ah if it isn't my bunch of currently useful and overly expensive degenerates. Well it is time to earn your pay checks, well except for Simon who doesn't get one, sorry kid but revenge will have to suffice for payment" He said condescending as ever as he twirled the pimp cane in his hands. "The target you're to hit Is a recently abandoned Atlesian Arm's Corporation facility that studied experimental battle-bots, But now the White Fang is in there plundering it of its Dust stores and armouries, Team's Whiskey and Bourbon Will handle the Dust stores and Armoury, Rum Squad" Roman face palmed with regret at letting the three Captains pick their squad names before continuing "Rum Squad as I was saying will attack the control room and hold it while Simon and I retrieve the contents of Its computer mainframe." Roman said linking diagrams of the facility to our scrolls.

I was only half-way interested, wanting information on Who killed my parents, not liberating some stupid research facility, though the opportunity to kill more White Fang did appeal to me greatly, a small revenge for my lost family and friends, I wondered how Gregory and Levi were getting on with their new posts, wherever they ended up. "Ok people, Let's go, there is Lien to be made and White Fang to slay!" Came Roman's voice piercing my wondering mind which snapped me back to the present.

With that we all left the building and went to gather the appropriate gear, seeing as we were apparently going down into the lowlands out of the snow, which i was thankful for... what I was less happy about was having to do more flying. Within 5 minutes of taking off, I was air sick again, much to the disdain of the rest of Rum Squad who was sharing the Bullhead with me, but at least this time i didn't vomit as I still had the horizon in my sight and the Bullhead was flying just above the trees so there wasn't much height from the ground. It was mid-afternoon when we arrived at our insertion point about 5km from the facility.

But we didn't move from there and i was held back as I began to jog towards it "Hold up Simon, those Faunus have the advantage at night, they can see clear as day at night, If you want to get the jump on them, you need to hit 'em right at sunrise or sunset and hit 'em hard, fast and with copious amounts of flares" Kruger advised me.

I merely shrugged "Well back in the Grimm Wood, my team took out many Faunus at night." I fired back, but my protest was Ignored and so I found a tree and laid against it, deciding to get some sleep, knowing I'd need all my energy for what was to come.

**A/N: **So i decided to introduce some new characters as well as elaborate on the AU that my mind has come up with. Next chapter I'll be back with **More Action** and more plot. I hope that my readers enjoy this... and I always welcome compliments, advice and constructive criticism of my work :) enjoy your week CC Signing off.


	8. A Quest for Revenge Pt1

**Rewritten: 23/01/15**

**Chapter Eight: A Quest for Revenge Pt1. Simon's PoV:**

As night fell I was awoken by Cpt. Kruger and we began to walk towards the facility, the other squads taking different routes towards the Dust storage and armouries. I walked about 100m ahead of the others ducking from shadow to shadow, moving silently just as we had been taught back at the training camp, but I didn't let my mind wander this time as I was entirely focused on trying to spot any Faunus through the Night Vision Goggles that Kruger had given me while also not letting the lack of depth perception result in me going arse over head. It was about midnight when we arrived at a ridge overlooking the facility about 500m away, all the outside lights around it were out, though we could see lights on inside the buildings.

Shauno and Kale set up their sniper rifles and attached the thermal scopes "Oh yeah... those warm blooded Faunus are lit up like Christmas trees through this baby" Shauno whispered gleefully.

"Ok Shauno, Kale... keep watching the Faunus down there, try to map out their movements and patrol patterns. The rest of you, relax and wait... we hit them just at Dawn." Kruger whispered as he carefully eased himself down against the nearest tree and pulled out his radio, no doubt to ask the other squads where they were.

Roman was keeping to himself and grumbling, obviously loathe that he had to come into the field like this and get his hands dirty, which i personally found hilarious to see him in worn out camo clothes and black face paint instead of his expensive, well cut suit and bowler hat, he looked over to me and growled dangerously as I stifled a chuckle at his discomfort and looked away.

Looking to my other squadies that I hadn't really met yet: I saw Lachlan McLean sharpening a bayonet and polishing his rifle atop his head was a Maroon beret, looking very battered and worn. I sat watching him expertly take apart, clean and reassemble his rifle and pistol, eventually he looked up at and saw me looking on curiously he sighed and patted the ground next to him, signalling for me to go sit with him, which i did. He began to talk absentmindedly as he cleaned his various pieces of kit "I' am guessing you want to know my story? seeing as you were so interested in Shauno's and Kale's. You know kiddo, I remember reading about what happened to your parents in the paper, I was a young Private in the _Vale Defence Force's 1st Mobile Regiment _with Four years of experience under my belt seeing some pretty horrific things." Lachlan said before pausing for a moment of silent reflection

"But what happened to Dr Anthony and his wife shocked me and the rest of our guys pretty badly as did having to respond to the police station you were sheltering at the night after. It only got worse from then on, more and more White Fang attacks on population centres, bombings, shootings, assassinations, hostage scenarios. It got to a point that Vale City was put into Lockdown, thousands of troops, police and dozens of Huntsmen and Huntresses swarmed everywhere detaining every Faunus in sight. After about a year of essentially Martial Law came the _Battle of Ruben Field_, pretty much the White Fang with its ranks swelled by pissed off Faunus as well as several hundred rouge Atlesian Knight battle mechs took the Vale Defence Force on in open field. Well we got slaughtered, 3 quarters of the _1st Mobile_ and _2nd Armoured Brigade_ that entered the field that day never lived to leave it." Lachlan explained about this battle that I'd heard referenced but never really spoken of specifically in my training.

"My squad got ambushed by several Faunus, of the 12 of us, only 3 got out alive and unharmed. But despite the setbacks and another 6 months of bitter fighting, we managed to set up perimeters 100km in radius around Vale City and the other major cities free of White Fang as well as putting together a line of outposts along the rail lines to protect them and the adjoining settlements from attack, after that the government decided to just leave it at that and focus on the people in the city and relaxing restrictions on Faunus, treating them like equals even though massacres still happened in the wilds away from the cities and major outposts. Disgusting, a disgrace on the memory of all those who fought and died at Ruben Field. So I deserted and eventually linked up with the Black Fist, for pay back for what happened to my squad you know. But you, you and what happened to your family is what set everything off, all you see around you was started by those animals murdering your parents and torching your home. So I guess it is only fitting you're here taking the fight to the Faunus." He said in a deadpan voice, not once looking away from his weapon.

I sat there kind of stunned, I was not expecting this level of openness or seriousness from a member of Rum Squad having seen Shauno and Kale's sarcasm, Kruger's cynicism and Roman's Condescendence.

Speaking of Roman, I smirked evilly and took out one of the preserved meals labelled _MRE: No4. Cheese and Vegetable Omelette_ that I had brought with me, for the exact reason of tormenting Roman. McLean saw what I had and realised my plan. Giving me a thumbs up and a Wink as I stood up and walked over to Roman. "Hey Roman, you look hungry after that 5km walk, bet it's been a long time since you did that much exercise" I said sarcastically.

Roman merely sneered at me "What do you want kid? This better be good" he said grumpily as he tightened his grip on his pimp cane _Melodic Cudgel._

I simply waved it off "I merely decided that you could use a bite to eat so I got this from my ration kit" I said deadpanned as I handed him the brown bag and slowly backed away, taking care to keep my face even.

By this time the other members of the Squad including Kale and Shauno up on their perch on the ridge line above us watched eagerly for Roman to take the first bite. Roman who was too tired and hungry to realise what he was about to consume took a massive scoop and shoved it in his mouth. Instantly Roman looked turned green and turned around vomiting into a bush behind him, once he finished he chugged down his entire water bottle and then proceeded to throw the brown bag at me.

The rest of us were choking on silent laughter at seeing Roman eat the dreaded omelette and a series of thumbs up and hi5's were sent my way as Roman continued to gag on the taste that seemed to cling in his throat.

After this we all (Roman excluded) were much more relaxed, even managing to get a couple of hours sleep until we were awoken by Kruger at 4am. "Ok ladies, time to go earn our pay" he said as he kicked us from our sleep, taking care to kick Roman extra hard in his tailbone much to Roman's consternation at being targeted like that by both Kruger and myself. As we packed away our gear and gathered up what we would need for the attack Kruger was up silently talking to Kale and Shauno undoubtedly about the guards patrol patterns.

By 4:15 we were moving silently down the hill, ducking quietly from tree to tree, minimising our time in the open that we could get seen by the Faunus. It was about 4:45 by the time we managed to crawl to a small defilade at the fence to the facility, now we just waited for the other squads to attack at 5am. It was a tense 15 minutes as we laid against the slope just outside the perimeter fence. Then out of nowhere the sounds of explosions cut into the morning stillness from the other side of the facility as the other Squads began attacking the dust storage and armouries, yet still we waited as more and more of the White Fang guards began to move away from the command bunker and towards the fire fight, all except two guards near the door. Kruger peeked up and saw the remaining guards, picking up his radio and calling Shauno and Kale "Two guards by the command bunker entrance, need them taken down so we can get a quiet entry into the complex" the captain whispered.

"Wait One, lining up the shots" Came the reply as about 10 seconds later what sounded like one shot rang out, but it was in fact two simultaneous shots and both the guards collapsed, their chests nothing but a bloody, gooey mess. Lachlan then proceeded to cut open the fence and we slipped in, heading to the command bunker entrance.

We stopped at the door way as Lachlan placed an explosive charge on the door blowing it open. "Ok Simon, you and Roman head to the mainframe to begin the data transfer. The rest of us will make our way to the security station and hold off any White Fang that come back this way from fighting the other Squads. Now let's move people, we don't have all day!" Kruger barked as Roman and I peeled off from the main group and headed down the appropriate hallway according to the schematics we had been provided with.

Finding the mainframe was easy enough, I peeked around the corner and saw three White Fang guarding it, obviously very much on edge. two were armed with rifles and the other had a tomahawk in each hand which reminded me of Levi's weapons. They turned my way, obviously smelling or hearing me and i quickly ducked back behind the corner as several bullets passed where I had just been. I barrel rolled around the corner, with _Vindex Umbra _out in its gun mode at my hip as I took a knee and fired at the Faunus, taking one rifleman down but the other two deflected rounds with their Aura _'Well fuck, this just got more difficult' _I thought to myself as I turned to Roman "Ok Roman, time to put that pimp cane to good use, Follow me!" I yelled as I charged the rifle wielding Faunus, extending the blades on my weapon and launched into a downwards strike onto the Faunus, who blocked it with his rifle.

Drawing my weapon back, I twirled on my heel counter-clockwise and put all my weight behind a horizontal slash, once again the Faunus tried to block it with his rifle, but the blade of my staff cut straight through his rifle and struck him in his mid thigh, getting lodged in his femur. The Faunus howled in pain as I yanked back on my staff, extricating the blade from his leg. I raised _Vindex Umbra _ above my head, twirling it in my hands to reposition my grip from the centre of the staff to the rear end of it and brought it down on the still reeling Faunus like a sword, entering at the point where the left shoulder met his neck and continued the strike down, exiting at the base of the ribcage on the right side, his body split in two along the diagonal cut. I turned my attention to the tomahawk wielder who was busy fighting Roman. Just was I was about to charge in, Roman got a good strike onto the Faunus' temple, stunning him and then raised the pimp cane and shot a round right into the chest of the Faunus who had been unable to raise an Aura due to him being stunned by the blow to his head.

I let out a low whistle "Good Roman, But I took out 2 to your 1" I said smirking.

Roman blew a red bang out of his eye "yeah yeah kid... now let's get this done, the quicker I' am out of here the better it will be" He said grumpily, still obviously angry at me for the omelette prank. As we entered the mainframe Roman went to a computer work station, while I stood guard by the door. After about 15 minutes I looked back and saw that Roman had accessed the mainframe easily enough and the documents he was transferring appeared on screen.

I didn't pay much attention seeing as I had to keep a look out, that and the files looked boring Just a heap of things to do with Atlesian Knights and their control overrides or something of that description we well as something named _The Penny Program_. It all just looked like technical mumbo-jumbo to me _'Guess the Atlesian Arms Corporation must be paying a bounty to retrieve this info' _I thought to myself reasoning that this entire mission was about making Roman money paying no heed to the rest of the documents, instead just staring down the hallway.

Roman had just informed me that he needed only about 5 minutes more to complete the data transfer, It was then I heard heavy armoured footsteps approaching and sure enough, about a dozen Atlesian Knights came around the corner, weapons raised at me."Well fuck this just went to hell in a hurry" I muttered as I set my weapon to its machine gun mode and began firing, taking down three of the robots before their return fire made me duck for cover.

As I prepared to charge the robots a streak of light went past me as Roman had launched an explosive round from his cane into the midst of the robots, destroying them all. As Roman grabbed his data drive and ran past me he turned to me and in the most condescending tone possible smirked and said "Oh what you were saying about having more kills than me? you go a long way to go kid." He then kept running towards the security station. Upon reaching it we found the rest of the team and Eight Faunus, handcuffed and sitting against a wall.

I looked incredulously at Kruger. "YOU TOOK PRISONERS?!" I yelled at him as I drew _Vindex Umbra _and set it to gun mode ready to slaughter the captives, as did Lachlan. Only for Kruger to shove me into a wall and Cpl Sanderson did the same to Lachlan.

"Stand down Simon! we're not killing this lot, I got plans for them." Kruger said, shoving me into the wall and then backing away. Sanderson then let Lachlan go and stood by Kruger's side. Obviously they were close friends and have had each other's backs for years in the Atlesian Military. I turned my back and went to stand by Lachlan, whom I suddenly had a great respect for after seeing him back me up on wanting to kill the disgusting Faunus.

I saw Kruger take out his radio "Kale, can you get in touch with your old buddies, I got some merchandise for them" I couldn't hear Kale's reply so I merely listened in curiosity at what the Captain was talking about. "Ok Organise the pickup, give me the details when you get on the Bullhead. Get your asses to the Landing zone, and don't forget our gear. Kruger Out." The Captain shut off his radio and forced the Faunus onto their feet "Ok you filthy mutts, on your feet, you're going for a little ride." Kruger said as he pushed the lead Faunus out towards the bunker exit.

We reached the door we had entered from about 5 minutes later, greeted by several more bodies that had been there than when we had entered, no doubt courtesy of Kale and Shauno up on the ridge. We waited just inside the bunker out of the firing line until we heard the droning of Bullhead engines and sure enough the Bullhead dropped into view right in front of the bunker, The door gunner waved us out and we all piled into the Bullhead, with it being much more cramped due to the additional passengers. The bullhead lifted off and flew low over the ridge where we had spent the night and landed in a clearing below, waiting there were Shauno and Kale weighed down like pack mules under their rifles, gear and our packs. Danny and Luke jumped out and helped the snipers into the Bullhead and distributed our packs back out to us. Once more the Bullhead took off, this time flying fast and high, to get away from the facility as quick as possible and back to the camps in the hills.

But the Bullhead didn't fly towards the mountains, instead it took us further South away from the mountain ranges as ordered by Kruger after having a whispered conversation with Kale, I looked around anxiously, trying not to get airsick but the more i tried the more I failed and eventually had to reach for a barf bag.

"Ugh Simon, really? can you not go more than 30 minutes on a Bullhead without vomiting?" Shauno complained as the smell of vomit wafted in the cabin.

"It is probably karma for feeding Roman that omelette" Kale joked, laughing at both myself and at Roman causing me to flip the pair of snipers off.

After about an hour's flight we landed in a small clearing and Kruger flanked by Kale and Shauno forced the Faunus prisoners out into the grassy meadow while the rest of us retreated into the tree line and crouched in the shadows covering our captain and snipers. After a good 30 minute wait the hum of engines was heard and three Bullheads swooped overhead and landed at the other end of the meadow. out of two of them came several armed men, I looked through the pair of binoculars I had borrowed from Kale and saw that the armed men all bore the snowflake logo of the _Schnee Dust Company_ and then it dawned upon me what Kale and Shauno had organised, to sell the Faunus prisoners as labour to the SDC for work in their Dust quarries. A hair pricked at the back of my neck and a tiny voice in my head squeaked _'This isn't right, No one deserves slavery' _but I quashed that voice and my hatred for the Faunus took over and i smiled as I watched the exchange take place through the binoculars.

The Faunus were herded towards the 3rd Bullhead that hadn't been loaded with soldiers and the SDC official who looked to be in charge handed Kruger a briefcase, shook Kale and Shauno's hands, then turned on his heel and walked back to his Bullhead and the three SDC aircraft took off. The meeting and exchange took all of 5 minutes. Once the SDC Bullheads were out of sight we exited the tree line and gathered around Kruger, all quite stunned at what we had seen.

The first to speak was Roman "So how much did they give you? And where is my cut?" He asked holding his hand out expecting payment from his subordinate.

Kruger sighed and opened the case "45,000 Lien, 5000 of which is yours Roman" Kruger said as Sanderson counted out 5000 Lien and handed them to Roman, who pocketed it gleefully.

"We must start taking more prisoners if the SDC is going to pay us this much for them" Roman said as he walked towards the Bullhead we had arrived in and we followed. It had been a quiet trip home and It was dark by the time we got back to the base up in the mountains and the other two Squads had already returned, Having held their objectives until a _Black Fist_ Company group numbering 160 had relieved them to be picked up by Bullheads and brought back. I was very tired and retired to my bunk quite quickly.

only for Kruger to knock on my door and chuck a sack into my room "your cut of the Lien we made today out of those prisoners, also Thank-you for that prank on Roman the entire team owes you big time for humiliating that condescending dick with omelette. That was just classic!" The captain said before moving on to the next room.

I grabbed up the sack and tipped it out onto my bed, counting it up to 5000 Lien _'Wow that's a lot of Lien' _I thought to myself as I put it back in the bag and hid it, not trusting some dick to try to sneak in and take my hard earned money. I felt a lot more at ease now than i did when I first arrived here, having managed to score major points with everyone with the Omelette prank. But I still felt uneasy, I was eager to get out there and find my parents killer, or at the very least the Black clad, cat eared assassin from the Police station whose image filled my nightmares most nights for the last 2 years now. As i closed my eyes to get some much needed rest, my thoughts turned to that assassin, and my thoughts were a simple promise _'I will find you one day... and when I do, I'll make you watch as your family dies, then only when you beg for death will I give it to you'._

**A/N: **First off: I really felt like Humiliating Roman in this Chapter, I got the idea for the MRE from a YouTube video I saw while randomly surfing the net called "The Worst MRE Ever!: The Omelet"

Secondly A big shout out to **xThat One Personx** for allowing me to reference their story "Dog Days" (It is worth checking out) and for the words of encouragement on my work... Feedback from readers allows me to alter and improve my work or style. So don't be afraid to review or even PM feedback to me... it all helps, trust me! -CC Signing Off.


	9. A Quest for Revenge Pt2

**A/N: **A bit of a long A/N today, so I apologise for that in advance and I also apologise for taking so long to update.

First off: A MASSIVE THANK-YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS READ MY STORY! _From Hunted to Hunter_ passed 1000 views yesterday!

Secondly I' am really enjoying the _World of Remnant _shorts during the off weeks for RWBY, it really helps Fanfic writers now that we know where on Remnant each kingdom is located.

Next up a big thank-you to those two awesome people who left reviews: **Monochrome Spectrum **I have shortened the paragraph lengths substantially, I hope this chapter isn't too painful to read :)  
**HeroBladeRiyet**: your unique form of encouragement is very welcome.

There will be one more chapter update sometime this week and then I' am going away on vacation this Friday, so there will be a few weeks without an update.

**Rewritten: 24/10/15**

**Chapter Nine: A Quest for Revenge Pt2. Set 6 months after Chapter Eight, Simon's PoV:**

As I lay in the snow, sniper rifle to my shoulder. My breathing slowed and eventually stopped as my eyesight grew sharper and more focused as I lined the target up through the scope and as the crosshairs moved to where I wanted them to be I slowly pulled the trigger. The recoil from the heavy duty rifle slammed back into my shoulder, I raked the bolt back and ejected the shell casing.

I heard a low whistle to my left "Not bad Simmo, not bad at all. 1000m and you are only about half an inch from the heart, but with the sheer size of the rounds we use, it wouldn't matter... that's one dead Torchwick" Kale chuckled from the spotters position next to me. I head Shauno chuckling in the background at the teams newest marksman-in-training as we all enjoyed a rare day off from Roman's almost incessant demands for more Faunus prisoners to sell to Kale and Shauno's mate in the SDC's _Special Security Branch_, in my head it seemed whatever project Roman originally had in mind when he put this team together had taken a back seat for making money... Typical greedy bastard.

"This long range shooting is great fun and a good stress reliever seeing as we use effigies of that selfish asshole Roman as targets, but personally in combat I will always choose my staff over this thing any day," I said as I stood up and let Kale take my place as the shooter.

"And why would you prefer to have to get up close and risk injury or death? putting yourself in danger doesn't seem your style Simon, Sniping is an effective weapon against even huntsmen and huntresses," came Shauno's reply.

I thought about this carefully, not wanting to cause a shit fight by insulting their skills as marksmen. "Because, while your sniping maybe effective against regular Faunus, if there is a group of Faunus with training in Aura use, you only get one volley of fire with the element of surprise and then those who are left will be immune to your fire or have ducked behind cover out of your firing line, whereas getting up close, I can exploit weaknesses, stun or incapacitate them and then take them out while they are weakened ," I replied smugly.

Shauno stepped over to face me before giving his reply "Well what if we choose not to kill the first two victims, merely say blow their legs off with the 12.7mm rounds we use? imagine the mental affect it would have seeing their friends screaming for help, bleeding out. But they can't help them, 'cause if they do then they could become the next victims. A person's Aura can only stand up to so much damage before it weakens and can be overcome, as you well know from experience. Snipers are way more than just long range killers, we are psychological weapons of fear and heartbreak." The lanky marksman simply just winked at me and walked over to his rifle to begin a 1000m shooting contest with Kale.

I on the other hand grabbed up my gear and decided to go and see Danny and Luke: the squads resident pyromaniacs (ok we all were pyromaniacs, but these two took it to an entirely new level) were up to... It was then that a muffled explosion was heard _'Guess they managed to pry open the new locks on the explosives shed.' _I thought to myself as I ran over to where the pillar of smoke was rising. To see the two men laughing their heads off surrounded by several bottles and jars.

I saw Luke grab another bottle and hurl it through the air in my direction calling out "Fire in the hole!" Before ducking behind a snow barrier they had constructed.

My eyes widened as i realise I' am in their firing line "Oh holy fuck!" I yell as I scramble behind a fallen log and bring my Aura up around myself in case I get stuck in whatever explosion they have concocted.

About 10 seconds later another muffled boom is heard very close by and I hear several shards of something hitting the other side of the log. Once it had all settled, I jumped up and ran towards Luke, Smacking him in the jaw with a left-handed hook causing him to hit the ground. "Watch where you throw your homemade bombs, you damn near took me out you prick!" I yelled at him furiously as he stood up only to end up on the ground from another hook to the jaw this time knocked out.

I went to kick him with my steel capped boot in anger but found myself being tackled to the ground by Danny who began laying punches into me in defence of his pyro buddy and I placed him into a chokehold as he continued to beat my kidneys.

I nearly had Danny starved of oxygen as his punches became weaker and his face went blue, it was then that we were pried apart by a very pissed off Captain Kruger. "Oi what are you two doing! Simon, Let go of Danny now!" He barked as I felt a steel toed boot from Kruger being launched into my ribs, both winding and forcing me to let go and grab at my bruised chest area gasping for air.

Danny rolled away also gasping for breath. I saw Sanderson checking over Luke and eventually calling Lachlan and the bases Doctor over who had a folded stretcher with him. Eventually I managed to clamber to my feet and stare down the much taller and older Danny as he gained his breath again and stared down right back at me, ready to go another round. "

Ok both of you, heel! Last thing we need is one more of us in hospital with Luke," Kruger said stepping between us with Sanderson.

"Ok now what happened here?" Kruger asked seriously, eyeing both Danny and myself. With that the both of us began to tell the tale of events from our perspectives.

Eventually Kruger held up his hand to stop us and turned to Danny, "Danny, didn't I tell you and Luke not to mess around with lobbing explosives, especially back towards the camp and especially your homemade ones. And Simon, for the love of dust... there is no need to knockout your team mates every time they piss you off, thought we went through this after that incident with the guys from Whiskey a couple months back" Kruger admonished us both angrily, looking to stamp out any seeds of conflict between members before it gets too violent.

I shrugged "Whatever." And turned to walk back to my room in the barracks to let my temper cool down a bit.

It was mid-afternoon when a knock on the door roused me from my dozing. Opening the door to find a very groggy Luke being supported by Danny, instantly I was on guard. "Hey man, we're sorry about throwing that bomb your way. We honestly didn't see you... thought you were still up with Kale and Shauno" Danny said, his voice devoid of sincerity and emotion.

"Also I'd like to add, never thought someone so young and short could hit so damned hard. Almost feel sorry for the Faunus you fight... Almost," Luke chuckled also forcibly. It was obvious that Kruger had sent them to apologise, and it was obvious that I was expected to do the same.

Sighing I look at them "Let's just call it a war game gotten out of hand and be done with it?" We all nodded and decided that we weren't going to gut each other for now, until the next time someone's temper got frayed.

"By the way, Kruger said to get your arse over to the HQ building, seems Roman has another mission for us, so grab your gear" Luke said as he turned to head out of the barracks building.

I grunted in annoyance "I swear if this is just another snatch and grab in some backwater, non-White Fang Faunus village for prisoners, I will slice Roman. It's about time we get back to really hurting the Fang." The other two merely ignored my grumblings as we made our way to the HQ building where the rest of Rum Squad and our assigned Bullhead crew were assembled.

"Right now people... I know most of you have been enjoying the relatively easy missions and big paydays I have been giving you these last few months, but it is time to move onto something more hurtful to the Fang," Roman said in a serious tone. _'_

_Well what do you know... he does have moments when he isn't condescending' _I thought absentmindedly as Roman began briefing our mission to us.

"Your target is this Faunus, and more importantly the contents of his safe and scroll." Roman said as a picture of a Faunus with a set of wolf ears, one of which had the tip sliced off. "His name is Dex, and he was in charge of the White Fang raid on the Atlesian Arms Corp facility we attacked 6 months ago. Before he came to Atlas he was based in Vale where he was in charge of the White Fang cell that operated between the City of Vale and the town of Exton." Roman added this part in while staring directly at me. My blood ran cold and I clenched my fists until my knuckles were white. Roman smirked "Yes kid, before you ask... you will have the chance to have a _friendly _chat with him once I have everything I need from him," he said in his normal condescending tone.

Part of me wanted to be angry at Roman for once again calling me _Kid, _but I was far too focused on getting info on my parent's killers and the assassin from the police station from the scumbag who had been unlucky enough to find his way into my sights.

My attention snapped back to Roman as he gave the final details. "Kale, Shauno, Simon and Lachlan: you will conduct recon on the compound from a ridge to the north for a night and day, before Simon and Lachlan infiltrate on the 2nd night to accomplish the mission. Now lets go people, time is money." With that we went and changed into woodland camouflage and grabbed the gear needed for this mission.

That afternoon the Squad was dropped off via Bullhead 10km away from the White Fang camp and split into its separate elements. The marksmen, Lachlan and myself headed North to a ridge, the rest of the squad went South to a creek bed. It was Sunset by the time we reached where Kale said the best vantage point was overlooking the camp, made up of mostly tents and about half a dozen wooden cabins and storage sheds.

We settled into a routine of taking turns watching their guards patrol patterns and trying to get eyes on our target through the sniper scope. I had managed to get a few hours sleep before being awoken by Kale and Lachlan, seemed it was my turn to take watch with Shauno on the thermal scopes. Nothing really happened for the first hour, then as I was scanning I saw a door burst open and two Faunus come rolling out grappling and punching each other.

I tapped Shauno and pointed it out to him and whispered "10 Lien on the one currently on the ground." Shauno lightly chuckled as he observed the fight through his scope.

"You obviously don't like money," he whispered back. Watching for about five minutes, my guy eventually got the upper hand and was winning... until the camp guards ran in and beat both of the fighters up and hauled them away. "Lets just call that one a draw ok, seeing as no one really won?" Shauno whispered to me, not wanting to lose anymore of his Lien.

I merely rolled my eyes and went back to scanning. The rest of the night was uneventful and just before sunrise Kale and Lachlan took back over and I curled into my sleeping bag and dozed off.

I was woken by the sound of trucks rolling into the camp, I grabbed the set of binoculars I had acquired on a previous raid and crawled up to the others who were all looking down at the commotion. "Guys, I got eyes on our target, he came out of the Building in the North-East corner of the compound," Kale said as he marked the target building on the complex map he had drawn the day before. I on the other hand was looking at the trucks _'Hmm must be supplies from a raid?' _I thought to myself seeing the logo of both Atlesian Arms and the SDC on the containers and boxes being unloaded and moved into a storage shed in the southern end of the compound.

Scanning back over the convoy is when is saw it... That familiar black hair and those hateful golden eyes pierced my very soul, It was him... the one who had attacked the police station. My anger boiled over and all rational thought disappeared, I slid down to my sleeping bag, grabbed _Vindex Umbra _and prepared to charge down to that camp and get my revenge. However before I could clear the ridge, I was crash tackled by both Shauno and Lachlan, while Kale continued observing the camp.

"What the fucks gotten into you kid?! You can't just run in there guns blazing, you'll get yourself killed and nothing more!" Lachlan growled at me as he pinned me to the ground.

"Get off of me Lachlan... he's there and he needs to die NOW!" I growled back, trying to wiggle free.

"And who exactly is _he? _wanna take a shot at him?" Kale asked as he looked down the sniper scope.

I scowled at Kale and shook my head "no, I want to look him in the eye as I end him, make sure he knows he is paying for his past." Kale didn't respond, obviously not caring about my little outburst.

"Ok Simon, If we let you go... will you promise not to try anything totally fucking stupid?" Lachlan asked, ready to knock me out if i did try anything. I simply nodded and they released me and returned to the ridge to look down into the compound as the convoy left, the assassin with it. I on the other hand sat on my sleeping bag brooding over an opportunity lost.

As night fell, Lachlan and I prepared to sneak into the camp while most of the Faunus were in large tent in the centre of the camp, that seemed to be a mess hall or the like. "So umm yeah, how are we meant to sneak into this place when Faunus have near perfect night vision?" I queried Kale. He simply raised his hands to silence me and held up a pair of fake cats ears and held them out to me, a massive grin on his face. I on the other hand was not so amused.

"Really, Is this a joke? because if it isn't I will break the nose of whoever came up with this!" I growled shaking my fist in anger. I heard Shauno snigger as I growled and chucked the ears at the marksman, "Shut up Shauno, hey... why isn't Lachlan wearing a set?" I pleaded, hoping to see Lachlan have to put a set on.

"I' am not wearing one because these jokers know I'd castrate them if they even suggested it" came the deadpanned reply from Lachlan as he stood and began making his way down the slope towards the camp. I grabbed up _Vindex Umbra _and followed Lachlan, ducking from tree to tree, bush to bush. This particular camp didn't have any walls or fences_ 'Must be a relatively new base... wonder where Roman found out about this from so quickly?' _I wondered as Lachlan and I stayed hidden among bushes, not even game to breathe while a guard patrol went past about 50 metres ahead of us. After they had rounded a corner Lachlan and I pushed up and slyly made our way towards the cabin we had seen our target come out of this morning. The camp had no lights in it due to the Faunus having such good night vision, so use of thermal imaging goggles was essential.

Getting to the front door of the cabin and finding it locked, I removed a lock pick gun from the tool belt around my waist and kneel up to the door went to work on picking the lock, about 15 seconds later I had the door unlocked and carefully slid the door open "You first Lachlan," I whispered to my teammate who entered the building, his silenced pistol raised in case of guards or our target. Inside the building was a hallway running the length of the front of the building with three doors along it.

"I'll check them one by one, stay here Simon," Lachlan whispered and he moved along the hallway and I closed and locked the door behind us, leaving it unlocked would raise suspicion. "Psst Simon, I found the Safe... You got your work cut out for you by the looks of it" I heard over my radio.

I chuckled lightly as I entered the office. "Pfft yeah right, what could possibly challenge m..." I stopped as I saw the blue glow of a Holographic lock. "Well shit," Was all I could manage as I pulled up the office seat in the room and made myself comfy.

As I got down to work I turned to Lachlan "Lachie do you mind watching the door so I' am not disturbed, These things were designed by geniuses... they're Assholes as well but geniuses nonetheless." Not bothering to listen for Lachlan's reply, or his cursing at me for calling him _'Lachie' _I reached out to the lock and started trying to decode it. After about 10 minutes I managed to crack it, "I swear if I ever meet whoever invented these things, I will break their Jaw" I grumbled grumpily as I swung the door open to retrieve whatever was Inside, Looking briefly at the first couple of documents labelled: _Project Paladin-X _and _SDC Dust train schedules _after that I didn't really pay attention to the names, just shoving them into the bag I had brought with me.

Once I had finished with that, I moved to the desk, taking anything that looked important, Including a list of scroll frequencies and a framed photo of our target's family. _'Oh I have a lot of questions for you when I get my hands on you'._ I thought to myself as I left the office and made my way to the bedroom next door.

Upon entering the target's sleeping quarters I began sifting through his bedside table, finding his scroll and several handwritten letters and drawings from what I could only assume was his son from his family photo that now was in one of my pockets, pocketing the personal Items and placing the scroll into the bag with the safe contents I turned to Lachlan "Ok I have the scroll, all we need now is our target and we can bug out of here." It was at that moment that our radios crackled

"Simon, It's Kale... Thermal Scope showing two Tangos heading towards your building, could be our target and a subordinate." I didn't bother replying, instead, grabbing the tranquilizer gun off of my back, Lachlan did the same not wanting to take chances if there was two Faunus coming into the building. Taking position at the end of the hallway side by side we waited. We heard the key on the front door and the lock clicking, We raised and readied our tranquilizer guns. My heart was pounding as the door cracked open and in came two Faunus, I snapped my aim to the one on the right and squeezed the trigger, the dart flying and hitting the deer like Faunus in the thigh while Lachlan hit our target. Dropping the guns we lunged forward and grabbed the two Faunus before they could call out or drop to the floor making noise. Upon grabbing the deer Faunus, I quickly peered out of the cabin door, seeing no one I closed it, so as not to raise suspicion.

Turning back to Lachlan and the two now unconscious Faunus that he was in the process of Gagging, Tying their hands with zip ties and putting bags over their heads. "So are we taking both of them or what?" I asked, not really wanting to be hauling both of the tranquilized Faunus with us.

"Nope, Leave the deer here. We got everything we came for, time to go." Lachlan replied as he hauled our target up onto his shoulders and reached for his radio and called the other team. "Danny, Luke... time for your little distraction, we got the package and are about to leave. get Kruger to signal the bullhead for an extraction from the camp" I looked at Lachlan and rolled my eyes

"Once, just once I'd like to disappear into the night without leaving a giant crater... like a real ninja," I grumbled as I prepared to open the door but waiting until Danny and Luke set off whatever bang they had planned. About 30 seconds later, a loud explosion was heard from the southern end of the compound as what i could only assume was a dust storage shed went up in flames. Not hesitating I slammed the door open and bolted out in a crouch run towards the a an open area towards the centre of the camp, _Vindex Umbra _out in gun mode ready to take down any Faunus in my way, But none showed themselves as they all seemed to be at the storage shed trying to put out the flames.

Arriving at the open area to find the other team already there and Lachlan very close behind me, moving very quickly for a large man carrying a Faunus on his back. "Kruger, this is Kale and Shauno, just hit the bottom of the hill, won't be more than a minute." Came Kale's deep booming voice through the radio. At that same moment, the whirring of Bullhead engines could be heard coming closer. It was as the engines became audible that things got hectic, the Faunus seemed to catch onto our presence as we suddenly saw the Faunus begin converging onto our position. However a lot of them were unarmed, either having left their weapons in their tents in their rush to put out the flames or they had been destroyed in the blast that Danny and Luke had created.

We raised our weapons and fired a few warning shots wounding several Faunus, Instantly dozens of hands went up, to signify surrender. We kept our weapons raised until the Bullhead landed behind us then one by one we entered the airship, first was Lachlan and our target, last was the two marksmen who entered from the other side which faced the ridge. Once Shauno scrambled aboard, weighed down by his sniper rifle and Lachlan's pack. The Bullhead lifted off headed straight for the base with our still unconscious cargo.

Once we had returned to base: Roman, Kruger and Lachlan took our prisoner to the tool workshop, where there was a soundproofed room. While the rest of us returned to the barracks for a hot meal. As we all sat down to eat I turned to Sanderson who always seemed to know what was going in "Hey Sanderson, What exactly are they doing over there?" The question took him by surprise by the look on his face.

"Umm yeah...the Idea is to break him before we even spoke to him. He was to be left in there for a day bound, gagged, blinded, denied food and kept awake with loud music. Tomorrow we begin our questioning of him when his lips are hopefully a bit looser."

As I process this my face goes slightly pale "Wow, really sucks to be that guy... going to suck even more when I get at him." The others around the table look at me curiously and Kale finally asks what he, Shauno and Kale had all been thinking.

"Why Did Roman even say you can talk to him? Does this have anything to do with your mental snap on the ridge today?" I simply nodded, not wanting to go into detail as to why. As I'am sure that my reason's are obvious enough seeing as the Faunus scumbag we had captured had been in Vale at the time my parents had died. I ate in silence and then retired to my room, I needed some sleep after the stress and exertion of the last couple days and to prepare myself for the day to come.

**The Next Evening: Simon's PoV**

I spent most of the morning in my room writing down what questions I was going to ask Dex when I finally got my chance to question him and Most of the afternoon Doing sparring with Luke and Danny, Gave us all a chance to Vent our anger after the bomb incident before the last raid and to get my mind off of the questioning to come, lest I drive myself insane. Then finally just after Sunset as the Squad sat down to eat, Lachlan strode in "Well Roman finally seems satisfied with the answers he gotten from Dex. He said that he is ready for you Simon, whenever you choose to go." He said simply and without emotion as he walked up the hallway towards his room. I stood up and walked wordlessly out of the door, my meal totally forgotten as was everything except for Dex and my questions for him.

I reached the door, and it was then that I hesitated, I had never done anything calculated or malicious like an interrogation before and I found it very daunting. But it wasn't time for doubts, I needed answers, my thirst for revenge demanded it. So I placed on my balaclava and opened the door to be greeted with the sight of a bound and bloodied Dex with a bag over his head.

Dex raised his head, acknowledging my presence with a growl "I already told you assholes everything I know about the White Fang's plans for SDC and Atlesian Arms!" He said angrily and loudly.

I simply chuckled darkly and replied menacingly "You may have satisfied my employer on your terrorist plots, but I honestly don't give a damn about SDC, Atlesian Arms or your group's plans for them, I have a much more personal reason for wanting to talk to you." I saw his posture straighten and tense up, recognising that I was someone he had not talked to before during his time here.

"Oh really? And what exactly do you want to know?" He replied, trying to gather his strength to resist my questioning.

"I only want to know three things. Tell me what they are and this will be over quickly and painlessly, try to fuck with me... and your previous interrogation will seem like a picnic by the time I'am done with you. Those three things are:  
1/What was your role in the Alexander murders in Exton, Vale two and a half years ago?  
2/ Who was the Catlike Faunus with the black hair who was at your camp yesterday and what was his role in a White Fang attack on a police station in Vale the night after the Alexander murders?  
3/ Where can I find him at this very moment?  
All you have to do is Answer honestly and this will all be over" I asked calmly and without malice this time.

As I asked those questions, I noticed Dex's breathing quicken and his posture became even more stiff. "I don't know anything about any murders in Exton, and I only know that Faunus by his code-name _Rapier Wasp._" Dex replied, suddenly invigorated to resist for reasons I couldn't fathom.

I sighed "So I guess it is the hard way then." I said walking over to one of the tool benches and picked up a cordless drill. Squeezing the trigger on it a couple times to ensure that Dex got the message about what was coming his way. "You have one more chance to answer my questions before this gets really ugly and painful" I asked threateningly, setting the drill off once more to emphasise my point.

"I' am serious, I don't know anything, even if I did I wouldn't tell you. You fucking sociopath!" Dex said, rather unconvincingly.

_'Must be real close friends with this Rapier Wasp fellow, If he is willing to spill his guts over White Fang plans yet suddenly be resistant to this.' _I thought as I walked over and placed the drill over Dex's left hand which was bound to the arm of the chair.

"You calling me a sociopath? well isn't that just the pot calling the kettle black." I said sarcastically as I triggered the drill and put it through Dex's hand, which was accompanied by much screaming from the Faunus. Removing the drill from Dex's hand I spoke to him once more "Now has that triggered your memory at all?" I asked him condescendingly, hoping he still resists as my hunger for revenge was finally being fed against someone who had a direct role in my parents death. But unfortunately he had broken, whatever Lachlan, Kruger and Roman had done to him had sapped most of his energy and his resistance to my questioning was merely tokenism.

The Faunus began to sob "Ok, Ok... I'll talk, Just no more drills."

I nodded and put the drill back onto the bench and pulled out my notepad "Ok, now spill." I asked him, without malice or anger _'Finally I' am getting somewhere' _I thought to myself.

"Ok, As you probably know... I was In vale at the time when the White Fang changed leaders, and took a new... more violent path. Well Dr Alexander's clinic represented Faunus dependence on humans, so it needed to be removed. While I ordered one of the White Fang cells to carry out the attack, I was not personally present in Exton that night. And before you decide to chase down those who were like you did with me, don't bother... they all got caught and dealt with by some black ops team named _The Head hunters_" Dex said in a deflated tone.

I jotted down his responses "Well that takes care of one of my questions, Just two more to go" I say deadpanned and I waited for the Faunus to continue.

"As for your 2nd question, _Rapier Wasp _is one of the White Fang's top killers, he had been sent to vale to kill several of the kingdom's ministers, his attack on that police station was just a matter of serendipity that he happened across it just as you were walking inside. I don't know much about him except that his real name is Schwarzer, he was always independent of my command in Vale as he is here in Atlas So I don't know where to find him. Now that I have answered your questions... I have one for you. Why are you so interested in irrelevant events of the past.?" Dex asked, obviously curious for why his past is being probed.

I grew very angry at calling my parents murder _irrelevant _and I ripped the bag off of his head so that he could see me as I removed the balaclava. "I' am interested in these very relevant events of past because that night, you and your Faunus bastards left me orphaned and homeless. I' am Simon Alexander!" I yelled as I rocketed a punch into Dex's jaw.

Dex Reeled from the punch but was left in more shock that the orphan boy that everyone believed dead had suddenly shown back up... with a thirst for revenge. Dex chuckled lightly, obviously realising he wasn't getting out of this alive "So the 12 year old sheltered, pampered boy has come back as a 14 year old vindictive, sociopath with a blood lust? How quaint. ugh, guess if Schwarzer had done his job right, I wouldn't be in this mess and he wouldn't have to deal with you and your little band of fuck ups." Dex spat in contempt of me and _Rum Squad_, which resulted in another punch being landed on his face

"Well Dex, before I find and kill Schwarzer, you're going to help me send a message to Schwarzer, we're going to let him know that I' am coming for him, and I will get him no matter what he does." I said, smirking most evilly. Before Dex could answer, I placed the bag back over his head and left the room. _'Finally, a Name to put to the face, maybe some of Roman's friends could help me find him.' _

**Two Days Later: Simon's PoV**

After several more conversations with Dex, He had given up the location of a White Fang encampment that Schwarzer was known to frequent often. So here I was on a Bullhead with no one but the pilots and a Bound and gagged Dex kneeling beside me. As we approached the encampment, The pilots hovered about 500m up and opened the side door, using all my concentration not to get airsick and visibly remain impassive I took a ziplock bag with an envelope inside containing a hand written letter addressed to Schwarzer out of my pocket with one hand, and raised a nail gun I had taken from the workshop in my other.

"I told you Dex, you're going to help me send a message to Schwarzer. What I didn't mention is that it also doubles over as your execution for the murder of my parents." I yelled into his ear as I pressed the ziplock bag to the back of his skull and pressed the nail gun to the bag and squeezing the trigger. With the Letter firmly secured to the now dead Dex I pushed his corpse out of the open side of the Bullhead towards the White Fang below. Turning to the pilot "Ok get us out of here, Time to head back to base... I think I've started enough of a shit storm for one day."

**That Night: White Fang Compound: Third Person PoV**

Schwarzer had arrived at the camp that night for what was supposed to be transit away from the battlefields that were the Atlesian wilderness and back to his family, but instead It took a dark turn when he was presented a ziplock bag that had been nailed to an old friend and comrades head. In it was a handwritten letter that left him chilled to the bone in a way that he no longer thought possible:

_To Schwarzer A.K.A Rapier Wasp_

_I now know who you are and I know what you have done and now you will pay with your life.  
The hunt has begun, I was once your prey But now The Hunted has become the Hunter. _

_Simon Alexander._

**A/N:** Please read and Review people... I' am always open to comment, advice and constructive criticisms -CC Signing off.


	10. -INTERMISSION- In Memoriam

**A/N: **Hello my awesome readers it's CC here. This will be my last update for a couple weeks while I' am away on Vacation from my university studies. In response to the extra awesome people that left Reviews, a plate of cookies I stole from Ruby await you :P

_**Awesome**__: _I'am glad you like the idea of The Black Fist. It only made sense to me that if Faunus were being violent, then humanity would be violent back seeing as the governments don't seem to be doing much to stop the White Fang in the show.

_**Monochrome Spectrum: **_Yes Simon will eventually be attending Beacon. But what he will do once he is there... That is currently being decided in my head and there are several different paths he can go down

_**xThatOnePersonx:**_ Yes well that is the point... he is an impressionable 12 year old that has spent 2 years being trained and indoctrinated by other Racist psychopaths, it is kind of expected that he would become one as well.

I have decided to take a break from Simon for this Chapter, as I need some time to plan and write what comes next for Simon and the Black Fist and this short drabble has been gnawing at my head for several days... So here is Chapter Ten of _From Hunted to Hunter._

**Rewritten:25/01/15**

**Chapter Ten: In Memoriam. Velvet Scarlatina's PoV (set exactly 3 years after chapter 1):**

Even though I was on holiday away from combat school for the first time in 6 month, I still was up late at night completing homework. Not that designing the weapon that I would forge upon my return to combat school in a month homework, as I put the final touches on this part of the design I put down my pencil and looked at the clock _11:50pm._ With that I sighed and stood up from my desk, putting on a jacket and picked up the bouquet of flowers from my bedside table. Walking over to my window I climbed out, taking great care not to make any noise that would alert my parents to my sneaking out, which was easy given the training I had received. Heading over to the fence in our backyard that separated our yard from what once was the Alexander's home, but now stood as a memorial to the first victims of the new aggressive aberration of _The White Fang. _I sighed and vaulted over the fence being confronted with the sight of the polished white marble obelisk and three marbled headstones, each inscribed the names of the slain family members.

I sat by the one closest to the fence I had just vaulted over and placed my hand on one of the photos that had been placed on the headstone, A photo of a small smiling human boy giving a piggy back to a Faunus girl with bunny ears. My hand went up to my head and lightly stroked my ears _'Oh Simon, how we all miss you and your mischievous antics'_ I thought to myself as I sat there in front of the memorial to my closest friend trying to think of what to say and how to feel.

A single tear dropped down my face as I began to speak to the headstone "Hey Simon, It's Velvet. I know I haven't visited you in a while and I' am sorry for that, but Combat School has been very busy with us finally being able to design and forge our weapons. You would have loved what I designed, I promise to bring it for you to see once I make it." I say to the headstone rather enthusiastically as I went into the details of what I had drawn and designed.

After about 5 minutes of going through the specifics of my weapon and what my classes were like, I simply stopped and sighed sadly. "Even though the classes are great, so many of the other students and even some teachers there are so discriminatory, every day the same name calling, pushing and shoving, But I can never bring myself to be violent back to them or even hateful or angry... for I have seen exactly what comes from meeting violence with more violence." I said absentmindedly, remembering my promise never to use violence against a human or Faunus except when someone's life was at stake due to my not wanting to perpetuate the cycle of violence that _The White Fang_ had begun. "What's worse is that those who don't take part, do nothing to stop or condemn the bullying. Of all the humans I have met, you and your parents were the only ones who absolutely were not predisposed towards hating Faunus, guess what I' am trying to say is... damn I miss you and the way you always were nothing but friendly to absolutely everyone you met." I sighed, realising that I was just talking to a stone tablet, not my friend. A friend who was taken away from me because apparently his mere existence was a crime against Faunus, when in fact his existence was proof that we could live together and that all the hatred and violence that consumed our kingdom for so long and only recently ended need not have happened.

By this time the tears were flowing freely from my eyes and my ears drooped depressingly. "If you could have seen what happened in the days following your death Simon, you would be as disgusted as I' am, people killing each other all over all in the name of _'Justice for Simon!' _You were never the violent type and I' am sure you would have detested any violence committed in your name. I remember how upset you'd get anytime you thought you'd hurt me or one of the other kids." I chuckle forlornly to myself at the time that Simon accidentally dropped me when giving me a piggy back and then fretting for hours to ensure I was ok. "That's kind of why I came tonight rather than tomorrow when the memorial service is meant to be held, too many activists, protestors and officials trying to win votes and not really caring about who you and your parents actually were, that and I just wanted to chat with you for a while by myself, without anyone judging me for simply missing you so much." I Continued to talk to the marble headstone for I don't know how long but eventually I ran out of things to say and I realised that it was time to say good bye... for now.

"It's getting pretty late now and I really should be resting, lest I lose my temper at some jerk tomorrow at the memorial from lack of sleep. Just so you know, More than anything In the world, I just wish I could see you again, Have my friend back again and have those endless pointless conversations about nothing that we both loved. Goodbye Simon, you rest easy." I reached into my pocket and took out a card and placed it with the flowers before standing and turning to walk back to my house, but not before sparing one last glance at the headstone "Happy Birthday Simon."


	11. A Quest for Revenge Pt3

**A/N:** Who else instantly fell in love with Zwei in episode 8? I went into cuteness overload at the mail tube dog :P And Weiss' reaction was just priceless... Someone tell Jaune that if he ever wants to be with Weiss to buy her a dog... on second thought DO NOT TELL HIM THAT! let him and Pyrrha be haha. I hope you all enjoyed a change of perspective in my last chapter, but now it is back to Simon, The Fang and The Fist. -CC

**Rewritten: 28/01/15**

**Chapter 11: A Quest for Revenge Pt3 (Set directly after Chapter 9) Simon Alexander's PoV:**

"You did WHAT?! I had planned to sell him to Kale and Shauno's friend in the SSB, NOT for you to kidnap him and put a nail through his head in order expose the fact that you were alive! Now you have simply placed a giant target on your back as _The White Fang _try to fix the mistake they made in letting you live and you have also put a target on the back of those around you... Especially me!" Torchwick fumed at me as I stood in his office upon my arrival back at the mountain base after having disobeyed his orders and began my own personal war.

"Well Roman, I want Schwarzer to know I' am the one who did this, I want him to know I' am alive and that I' am coming for him. This just happened to be the easiest way to rattle him." I retorted, not caring for the 500,000 Lien that the SSB was apparently willing to pay for Dex due to the information he held.

Roman, despite being angry didn't snap and become violent like Kruger or any other person in this camp would have. Instead he simply paced and thought about how to turn this to his advantage, a sinister sparkle came to his eye and he tapped his pimp cane on the ground.

"Well seeing as you have created quite a stir among the higher ups in The Fang with your sudden reappearance, they may mobilise to find you, this will mean more commanders and assassins in the field instead of in their currently unknown stronghold location. I have some calls to make, you are dismissed Kid," he said in a busy tone as he shooed me away before he activated his scroll.

Walking away from Roman's personal building and back to our barracks I was met by the members of _Whiskey Squad_ who looked to be returning from a mission, a scowl covered all of our faces as we all began sizing each other up. "Well well well, what do we have here, judging from what me and the boys just overheard. Looks like someone's been a bad boy? Kidnapping prisoners? Disobeying orders and costing our operation a lot of money?" Captain Shevchenko growled as his team surrounded me, my dominant left hand went to my back and grabbed hold of my weapon.

"What do you reckon Captain, should we teach him a lesson in listening to his betters?" sounded off another member: Sergeant Ryan Savage, whom I had beaten up a couple weeks ago in an altercation over some goods I had procured from their barracks for my squad.

Captain Shevchenko smirked menacingly and nodded. But before anyone could move a shot fired off, we all turned to see Kruger and the rest of the squad standing with their weapons trained on Whiskey Squad.

"Shevchenko, how about you and your group of money hungry, miserable excuses for soldiers go back to kissing Roman's ass and leave the actual fighting to those with a slight bit of competence, because really Simon could probably kick your entire teams arses single-handedly and he is a 14 year old kid who wasn't the best fighter in his training squad." Kruger said in a smart-arsed tone.

Captain Shevchenko growled and eventually called off his team, as they slunk away to their barracks the door to Roman's hut opened and Roman popped out "Captain Kruger my office NOW! Shevchenko, I must speak with you and Captain Walker from Bourbon Squad later, so go get him and wait outside like good obedient muscle." He said sounding stressed as he returned to his office, Kruger signalled for us all to wait in the barracks while he dealt with whatever Roman had to talk to him for.

Upon returning to the barracks, the squad sat down to discuss the events of the last couple of days. Sanderson spoke up first seeing as Kruger had gone off to discuss something with Roman. "Ok Kid, What in the hell did you do to cause such a bullshit scene? Apart from convincing a pilot to help you steal a Bullhead and kidnap the prisoner." With that the entire squad looked at me, curiosity in their eyes and a spark of mischief in Shauno and Kale's.

So I spent the next few minutes recounting what had transpired that morning and in my conversations with Dex over the last few days. Once I had finished recounting my tale I assessed my squad mates facial expressions: Kale and Shauno were nearly in hysterics at my _'sticking it to Roman'_, Danny and Luke looked on approvingly at my disposing of the Faunus, Lachlan just looked impassive as ever and Sanderson was face palming. "

Really Simon? You thought hovering a Bullhead directly above a _White Fang _hideout was a good idea? you are lucky you didn't get blown out of the Sky you idiot. Man I kinda feel sorry for the Captain right now, having to clean up your mess and smooth things over with Roman." Sanderson said sighing with disappointment.

"Oh come on David, don't tell me you wouldn't like the opportunity like this to send a giant _FUCK YOU _to both Roman and the _Fang?" _Shauno said, still laughing at the entire situation along with Kale.

Sanderson shot them a dirty look over using his first name and they instantly shut up. turning back to me Sanderson still looked pissed but before he could speak, Kruger entered the room his face impassive.

Kruger leaned against the door frame and addressed us "Ok change of plans people, seems Roman has decided to try and make Simon's personal vendetta work for him and has put a plan to High Command for approval... The _White Fang _is going to not take Simon's reappearance lightly, and are likely to launch a big effort to finish him off as a matter of pride as well as try to push _The Black Fist _back in order to re-establish a foothold near the coast in the Atlesian Lowlands rather than up in the Snowy alps, Highlands and polar regions in the far north." Kruger stopped to grab a drink before continuing.

But Kale spoke up first "Why does this feel like we are about to get used as bait somehow?"

Kruger merely chuckled "Yes Kale, Simon and by extension the rest of us are bait. Which is why I have ordered meat hooks to shove up Shauno's and yours arses and wire to hang you from a tree with, see if we can't catch some Faunus that way." Kruger began laughing hysterically as the rest of us merely groaned at his attempt at humour.

"Ty, never... I mean NEVER make a joke again you cynical old bastard" Shauno said as he held his hands over his ears in mock pain.

Kruger simply grunted and continued his briefing "Now as I was saying before someone decided to be a fucktard. Yes we are going to be bait, performing assassinations or kidnappings of high-ranking White Fang officers and ensuring that Schwarzer has a trail of clues to follow in order to work out our next strike and be there, then we will neutralise him seeing as there is a 750,000 Lien reward on his head. Which is the only reason that Roman isn't nearly as pissed as he otherwise might have been over Simon's little stunt. Alright any questions?" Kruger asked finishing his briefing.

I looked over each of my teammates "Just so we're clear... I' am the one who delivers the killing blow to Schwarzer, try to take that closure from me and I'll kill you, won't even try to deny I won't" I said threateningly and dead seriously.

After an awkward moment of silence the rest of the team nodded but I could see in their eyes a sense of doubt in my abilities to overcome Schwarzer. "Ok with that settled, what's the first target?" Sanderson asked taking his customary spot at his captain's side.

Kruger held threw a picture down onto the table and it contained a photo of a Bear-like Faunus "He is a Regional Commander in the Fang, and according to Roman's sources he will be making an inspection of a Faunus encampment in the Alps in two days time. He will be staying there only one night, so it is imperative we get this right. Simon, you will infiltrate the camp solo with Kale and Shauno providing sniper overwatch: assassinate the Commander while the rest of us defend the Bullhead Landing area and keep it clear of any grim and Faunus. leave a calling card so that the _Fang _knows it was you who did this and get out without anyone the wiser until they find his corpse the next morning." With that Kruger stood up and clapped his hands "Ok people snap to, we got a Bear to hunt."

**Two Days Later:**

Night had long since fallen after two days of recon as I prepared to make my way into the camp situated on the summit of a hill, unlike the one where we had caught Dex this one had a thick wall topped with razor tape as well as guard towers. "Ok so explain to me again how I' am meant to get into this mini-fortress?" I radioed to Kale and Shauno who were situated on another hill about 500m away.

"Well with this unexpected snowstorm, the guards will either keep to their barracks or their guard towers which don't have a field of view of the whole wall, so there will be blind spots that you can exploit, but at the same time we cannot provide any support whatsoever Simon, even with thermals due to the extreme cold. So be careful and good luck. Kale out." With that the radio went dead and for the first time in over two years, I was truly alone.

I forced any feelings of loneliness and fear to the back of my head as I crouch ran through the snow, my numb fingers gripping the grappling hook that I'll use to climb the wall. I eventually make it to the wall and dive against it, my snow camo masking me in the snowstorm. Throwing the grappling hook over the wall I tugged it and It caught on the razor tape _'ugh this is going to hurt like a bitch if I get caught on that' _I thought to myself as I climbed the 5m wall, upon reaching the top I grabbed hold of the wire cutters that was slung across my chest and cut the two strands of razor tape that surmounted the wall. I jumped down off the wall and landed in a soft pile of snow, I had the urge to act my age and make a snow angel _'jeez Simon, always got to act a kid at the most inappropriate moments aye?' _I rebuked myself mentally and buried my grapping hook in the snow next to the cuts I had made in the razor tape.

Marking the wall with phosphorescent paint so I could find my gear again later, I began making my way towards the centre of the camp towards the command hut. _'Kale was right, the guards really have decided to stick indoors tonight. Can't blame them one bit, my nose feels like it's going to freeze off' _my mind mumbled as I came into sight of the stone command hut... right in the middle of an open drill square. I dived into the snow near another stone building and observed the building that was barely visible a mere 30m away.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me, I got to cross that open area? What fucking bullshit" I fumed as I surveyed for sentries, finding one doing a pattern around the outside of the drill square who was brandishing a rifle. It was walking away from me and quickly disappeared into the snowy blizzard. Once I was sure it no longer had a visual on the Command Hut I began a very slow commando crawl across the open area, moving slowly enough that the movement of my white-gray camo was written off as the wind blowing the snow around. I covered the 30m in about 10 minutes.

I laid in the snow, perfectly still as the sentry came back into view doing another round of his patrol. Even as the cold penetrated my snow suit and I fought the urge to shiver or to yelp in pain as several patches of exposed skin began to suffer cold burn. My eyes stayed fixated on the sentry as it came ever closer to where I lay in the snow, realising that I would probably have to take down the sentry due to how close its patrol pattern came to my location.

My mind races through the possible outcomes, and ever so slowly I begin to feel fear and isolation as well as exposure _'Oh my, I fucked up... he will see me and raise the alarm, after all I did to survive, I die due to one fuck up' _My mind screamed at me as I began to feel the helpless feeling I had felt in the days after my parents death but before I joined the Fist. I see that the sentry was closing in on me. I will my mind into action and slowly yet shakily I drew a silenced pistol that Shauno had lent me and slowly took aim at the sentry and raised the pistol and aimed at the sentries heart. It took all of my effort to keep my freezing, and fear filled hands from shaking too much for me to aim.

Once the sentry was about 10m from my position I held my breath fired three rounds all of which hit within half an inch of where I estimated the Faunus' heart was. The sentry dropped to the ground, an ever enlarging pool of slick red blood surrounding their fallen form. The feeling of anxiety and fear I had felt momentarily ago vanished upon seeing the dead sentry

Knowing my time was now very limited I bolted up to the door of the command hut, predictably it was locked. I quickly grabbed out my lock pick gun and went to work on the door. Within seconds the lock popped and I snuck in, I saw the glow of a fireplace at the end of the hall as well as two sets of voices. Raising the pistol I slunk over towards the fire lit area which reeked of alcohol and cigars, keeping to the shadows in a piss poor attempt to conceal my presence from the sight gifted Faunus. I peeked around and saw my target talking to none other than Schwarzer. However Schwarzer was merely a hologram over a communications device, I stepped silently out into the light my pistol raised and fired a single silenced round into the back of my target's skull.

As the target dropped and I stared into those emotionless golden eyes of my one true target "Hello Schwarzer, It truly is a shame that it couldn't be you sprawled out on the floor instead of this thing" I said kicking the corpse at my feet and removing my hood, thermal goggles and balaclava so Schwarzer could see my face.

"Why Hello Simon I must say you have grown a bit in both appearance and tolerance to death from that scared little kid who screamed and ran at the sight of seeing those hapless police officers die." came the cold, calculating reply from the Faunus.

"You know, I will find you eventually, or you can try to find me... either way I will kill you for what happened that night." I said with as much venom as I could muster.

The assassin merely chuckled "Such Violence and hate at such a young age, so surprising for someone who was raised by such a peaceful family and who grew up loving Faunus. Don't you think your mother would have much rather you died a sweet innocent child than to survive and transform into this? Go on, turn that gun on yourself and make mamma Alexander happy again that her fuck up child made one right choice." Schwarzer cackled. At this I became angry beyond rationality and shot the communications array.

Knowing my window of escape was growing exponentially smaller sliced off my target's hand for DNA confirmation on the bounty on his head and I bolted for the door and out into the blizzard, remembering to close the command hut's door behind me. I replaced my thermal goggles and began running back towards my buried gear at the wall. Upon reaching the wall I removed a UV torch from my tool belt and used it to uncover the paint I had put on the wall, once I found the mark I retrieved my wire cutters and grappling hook and used it to once again scale the wall and climb back out of the hole I made on entry to the compound.

As soon as I cleared the wall I clicked off my stopwatch _'Total time in the compound Is 22 minutes... not bad at all' _I thought to myself. With that I sprinted off into the blizzard and the night To make my way back up the neighbouring hill which had Shauno and Kale in their hide. During the trudge back my mind was racing about my conversation with Schwarzer. Eventually I just collapsed in the snow and resisted the urge to bash my head just to stop his voice ringing in my head and the tears streaming down my face. _'Ugh he is good at psychological warfare... knew exactly what buttons to push to break my concentration and calmness, Killing him just keeps getting more and more a satisfying goal.' _I thought to myself as I began the assent up to Shauno and Kale's sniper hide.

It took nearly three hours and two more breakdowns to make the uphill trek in the snowstorm , I was barely able to stand or walk by the time I reached their hide. "Jeez Simon, you look like a pile of frozen shit" Shauno said as he turned from the spotter's scope to look at my frozen form.

I made no acknowledgement of the marksmen, instead I slumped against my pack and attempted to sleep despite the snowstorm, my once again fracturing mind and the constant chattering of Shauno and Kale.

Just as I was about to succumb to the darkness alarms began sounding off from the direction of the base "Umm Simon, I think your handiwork has been discovered early? something you wish to explain?" Kale said as he began disassembling his sniper rifle in preparation for a speedy getaway.

I looked up to Kale "Problems were encountered, persisted and were overcome. Though to be honest I' am surprised it took them this long to raise the alarm" I replied simply as I continued to lay there resting while the two snipers packed away their gear and dismantled the inside of the hide, putting off taking down their insulated thermal camo net that covered the hide.

I felt a boot lightly kick my hip "Off your arse mate, we are leaving now to make our way to the Bullhead's landing zone while we have a substantial lead on any Fang search parties they send out." Kale said as he hoisted his pack onto his back.

I groaned and stood up, shouldering my pack "Ok ok, lets get going... the sooner we leave the sooner we can get back to base and a warm bed." I growled sourly as we set off into the snowy oblivion that was the Atlesian Highlands and into the next step in what I hoped to be a quick lure and eliminate campaign.

**6 Months and several dozen missions later: (I.e. Approx. the same time as Chapter 10)**

"What the fuck do you mean he was never there? I knew he was there!" I screamed at Sanderson and I raised a fist to hit him, but think better of it.

"I put weeks and over a dozen missions into organising that trap and that motherfucker doesn't even show? how... how is he ALWAYS one step ahead of me!" I yelled at no one in particular as Kale walked up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Take it easy mate, we'll get him next time... of that I' am sure of" Shauno nodded in agreement in one of their rare serious moments.

But I didn't listen, "No It had to be today... for today marked three years since all this bullshit started with my parents death" I replied as I punched the nearest wall gutted emotionally. Most of the team simply grunted and walked away... having had enough of my all consuming obsession with killing Schwarzer.

"Simon, Calm down man. you need to tone down your obsession with this before it gets you... or worse yet me killed" Danny said irately as he left the barracks. I slumped against the wall and repeatedly banged my head against it eventually feeling the warm trickle of blood running through my hair.

Kale and Shauno remained having pulled up seats from the table Kale grunted to get my attention "As much as I hate agreeing with Danny, he is right... trying to force Schwarzer to play by your rules won't work, in fact I think you're playing right into his hands by burning yourself out like this and by the time you do find him, you'll be too exhausted to win against him."

I simply chuckled forlornly "you're probably right Kale, but I simply can't let this go, I was so close this time, he knew where I was going to be and when! But instead some 2nd rate grunts turn up to try and stop me from killing that officer, not Schwarzer." I smacked my head against the wall once more and slunk off to my room to reflect on my failed trap.

Upon reaching my room my scroll went off _'Hmm probably Gregory seeing how the trap went' _I thought to myself as I walked over to my desk and picked it up to find it was an actually another old friend, Ben's frequency. hesitantly I answered the call only to see a hologram of Schwarzer who had Ben tied up behind him as well as several dead black fist troopers.

"Why hello there Simon, I' am sorry I couldn't make it to your little birthday bash that you had planned for me, I hope the _White Fang _soldiers I sent provided enough entertainment... It isn't every day you become a 15 year old psychopath with a death wish, which is why I organised this very special present for you." Schwarzer said pointing his fork tipped katana towards my former teammate.

I did my best to remain impassive, not to let him into my head. "What do you want Schwarzer? Because I aint paying any ransom... not like the Fist actually pay us." I replied, telling a half lie about the last part.

At this Schwarzer laughed "Oh Simon, no no I want nothing from you... in fact I have a gift for you to go with all the others that I and the Fang have given you over the last three years. That gift being the same as all the others: another death of a close friend or loved one, and don't worry... I'll find Gregory, Levi and the others eventually" came the reply as Schwarzer raised his Katana and beheaded Ben with one swift strike a moment later the transmission cut. The colour faded from my face and my anger boiled as I opened up my scrolls contact list and opened up a group call with Gregory, Levi, Sarah and Alex who were my fellow survivors from the training squad.

Gregory and Alex answered almost instantly, a few seconds later Levi and Sarah came up on screen, both from Sarah's scroll _'guess he finally asked her out aye' _ I thought in a attempt to lighten my mood as they all asked why I was ringing them, seeing as I wasn't the type to really put much effort into keeping track of them.

"Guys, you're all in serious danger. The assassin that me and my team have been hunting for the last few months has turned his attention to finding and killing each of you in order to try and wage psychological warfare upon me. I' am giving you this warning now so you can be vigilant and hopefully avoid the same fate that has just befallen Ben" I replied, still trying to remain impassive.

"What fate? Simon... has your personal bullshit gotten another one of us killed?!" Alex roared through the connection, which was reasonable considering how close he had been with Ben.

"I had nothing to do with it... this asshole is just trying to get into my head seeing as neither of us are actually able to trap the other and finish them off." I responded now getting agitated that I was being blamed for this BS.

"Both of you shut up" Gregory's voice cut in. "Ok, Simon If this guy has killed one of us, he has declared war on all of us, not just you. And I think I may have a perfect way to get back at him, I can't explain now over scrolls. But I' am sure within the next couple days you'll be briefed on what the company I have been working with has found and how it will be exploited. Take care all, I' am sure we will see each other again soon." With that vague answer and promise Gregory disconnected as did Alex after flipping me off one last time.

I looked at Levi and Sarah "Congrats on whatever thing you guys have going, and also... you look gorgeous Sarah" I said winking before disconnecting.

**The Next Day:**

Every member of the operation, all three teams and their bullhead crews had gathered in the HQ building to listen to a transmission from the Brigadier Carvel, Major Donavon and Gregory who it turns out had spent the last year working with the 117th Regiment, the same Regiment who rescued us during our trial. Carvel was explaining our newest.. and hopefully last mission.

"Ok so long story short: The _White Fang _keeps a mountain stronghold where all of its Leadership, assassins and their families are kept hidden and safe from both us and the Atlesian government forces led by Major General James Ironwood. The location and route to this stronghold is only known by the _White Fang _leaders and the pilots who fly the airships to and from a transit base... which incidentally is the one that your fellow Simon tossed a nailed corpse into some months ago." The Brigadier rambled on about the base and the surveillance op his regiment put on.

"Yea Yea get to the point you blithering old fool!" Shauno called out. Causing everyone but me to laugh, even Kruger had a little chuckle but I wasn't amused.

"Can it Shauno and let the Brigadier speak, this is important!" I growled.

Shauno looked down in mock hurt "Since when did you and Sanderson trade bodies? I thought you had a sense of humour Simon."

I raised my fist threateningly and Shauno shut up, not wanting to ended up impaled upon _Vindex Umbra. _I nodded to Carvel to continue.

"As I was saying, we turned one of the pilots into a mole for information, we now know the location and route to the _White Fang _main base in Atlas, and it is imperative to move quickly before the Fang catches onto our plans... I estimate a 10 day window to execute the attack before they realise we know where they are and they move. You will be notified of the staging area and further details in the coming days, good day to you all." With that the transmission cut off.

"Well that settles it then, If I can't find and kill Schwarzer, I'll kill his family instead... that way he knows how I felt when the _White Fang _killed my family." I said as I turned from the team to retreat to my room in order to pack my gear.

"Hey Simon, when you go to find him, we'll have your back." I heard Kale and Shauno call out in unison. I give them a thumbs up as I retreat to my room to prepare for the upcoming operation.

**8 Days Later: **

We had the last week constantly out in the forest training for what was to come, I personally thought we were ready for anything that the _Fang _had in that base. As we boarded our Bullhead to head to the coordinates that Brigadier Carvel had provided Roman ran up to our Bullhead

"We must make a quick detour, I have organised with our suppliers for some special equipment for this assault. that will make this fight almost unlosable" He said quickly as he ducked through to the cockpit to give the change of course to the pilots. So instead of heading north, we found ourselves heading East towards a small plateau about 50km away, what met us there were several large _Nevermore _class air-cruisers hovering above the ground as well as swarms of Warhead gunships all emblazoned with the logo of the Atlesian Arms Corporation. On the ground was a Bullhead as well as a large unmarked transport ship which I guessed had our supplies. instructed us all to put our hoods up and pull down our balaclavas for reasons we didn't bother thinking about. Once we landed our team filed out and stood by the Bullhead as Roman walked out to meet the Atlesian Arms representative. _'so these are our suppliers, go figure... The White Fang hate theirs and SDC's labour practices with regards to Faunus.' _ I thought to myself as I saw the doors on the transport open and inside by my calculations 250 Atlesian Knight-130's.

I heard low whistles of awe from Danny and Luke. "Hey Captain, reckon we can steal us a few of these?" Shauno pleaded like a kid in a candy store. Kruger merely grunted, ignoring Shauno. I looked over to my captain who seemed to be wearing a look of betrayal or at least anger.

After about 10 minutes Roman strolled back over to the bullhead "you guys continue to the rally point... I'll give the transport's crew the coordinates and guide them to it. And try not to get lost, I know you guys are useless at following directions." He added onto the end just for the sake of being a condescending cockbite.

We all flipped him off as he swaggered away in his usual pimp way twirling the cane in his hands. After we had boarded the Bullhead and took off Kruger smacked the bulkhead that separated us from the pilots, "Fuck it all! This was All a goddamned sham!" he growled loudly and violently.

"What do you mean sir?" came the reply from a very worried Sanderson who obviously hadn't seen his friend and commander lose his cool often.

"Torchwick, maybe the Black Fist as a whole, but I know for a certainty that Roman and by extension all of us are simply stooges for SDC and Atlesian Arms. Did you see Roman give the official any Lien whatsoever? nope... not one! Atlesian Arms would never give away so many weapons away for free unless they were in control!" Kruger yelled indignantly at us, obviously very stressed at this revelation at the waste of a year of his life working with Roman. The rest of the team, especially Shauno and Kale who knew what corporations were like with money... and personnel saw wore similar expressions of hurt and outrage.

"Well that would explain why our SSB commander was so damned eager to see us volunteer for service with Roman once they found out we had joined the Black Fist and then make those deals with us for the Faunus prisoners !" Shauno growled angrily.

I shook my head "Guys, we can deal with this later... but right now we have got one hell of a fight coming our way." I yell angrily, not wanting them to get distracted from what lay ahead in the next day or two.

The rest of the trip went smoothly and silently, within the hour we had landed in a large flat mountain valley, that now teemed with the 1000 men of the 117th regiment of the Black Fist as well as dozens of Bullheads being loaded with troops and 8 Warhead gunships loaded out with various munitions. As we landed I saw several familiar faces belonging to my old training team and in an instant my bad mood disappeared , despite the Bullhead still being a good 10m off the ground I leapt out and landed in a snow heap.

Gregory scooped me up and pulled me into a bear hug "It is so damned good to see you man, jeez is that some stubble i see on your face? guess my little wingman really is growing up aye Simmo?" I chuckled at my friend and struggled out of the hug in order to breathe again.

"Oi Simon, Is that your Boyfriend? I didn't know you swung that way man? Never again will I feel safe in the Barrack's Shower room!" Kale said in the middle of his laughter while Shauno gave me a knowing wink.

"Oh yeah that is rich coming from the two guys who share a room? wouldn't be surprised if you shared the bed as well!" I fired back and flipped them off sarcastically. The marksmen merely laughed it off and headed off with the rest of the team towards the staging area.

"Come with us Simon, we got permission for all five of us to work as a team in the upcoming assault." Sarah said tugging on my arm, which earned a wolf whistle from the ever watching duo of marksmen.

We all found a small quiet corner of the Valley to sit in after laying out a thermal rug. "So Simon, What is it like working with the only Black Fist unit independent of any Regimental Command, High Command's personal enforcers in other words?" came the Question from Levi, who was always the most curious in the group.

I chuckled _'If only you knew just who "High Command" really was' _I thought to myself in reference to Kruger's revelation. "It is hectic Levi, all sorts of missions come up... though mostly assassination or snatch and grab type raids. What about you guys?" I reply, being deliberately vague.

My friends all looked at each other "Well at first all of us were attached to Grimm extermination teams in each regiment... but one of the positive side effects of thousands of armed people and Faunus infesting the wilderness is that Grim tend to thinned out pretty regularly, so the grim extermination squads quickly became hit squads for five of the six regiments in the Black Fist, you were meant to have been sent to the last Regiment, but Roman seconded you instead." came Levi's reply, which finally explained why I had seen so few grim in the last several months.

"Right well that actually makes sense seeing as we were trained like huntsmen and huntresses, next question: How damned long have you and Sarah been hitting it?" I asked shamelessly _'Damn... Kale and Shauno are rubbing off on me.' _Everyone looked a bit shocked how bluntly I asked that.

"Umm well we have been seeing each other for about four months now, between missions you know." Sarah said as her face went deep crimson and Levi laughed nervously, I simply laughed hysterically at their reaction.

We spent the next several hours catching up and finding out what the other had been up to in the last year. until near sunset we were called to board one of the many bullheads in the staging area in preparation for the assault.

Once I saw the rest of Rum Squad boarding the Bullhead next to ours. "COOOOOOOOOEEEEEEE!" I called out to get their attention over the roar of Bullhead engines and the grumble of the transport loaded with Atlesian Knights droning above. They all turned and waved and nodded to acknowledge they had seen me before boarding their craft.

After boarding our Bullhead and it took off I stepped over to Gregory, "hey man... how exactly did you get the location of this place anyway?"

Gregory shrugged "We found out that the family of one of the Pilots had been sold to the SDC after being caught up in one of your team's raids on a Faunus village, he wanted them back and was willing to swap the information for his family and a way out of the war. He was reunited with his family for all of 30 seconds before the guns of the 6th Noble Company mowed them down, he certainly got his way out... just not the one that was agreed upon." He replied deadpanned, with the slightest tinge of regret.

I nodded slowly, assessing my friend to try and work out what was going through his mind.

Gregory sighed thoughtfully "Hey Simon. Have you ever wanted to get away from all of this and try to make a normal life?" He looked me in the eyes, the stress and exhaustion written all over his face.

The question took me by surprise "Well no I haven't, I have only been focused on staying alive long enough to complete my revenge upon anyone I could find that was involved in my parent's death. I haven't given any thought whatsoever to what comes after I finally catch Schwarzer. besides, now is not the time for this sentimental bullshit that can wait until after we level this place to the ground." I say in a gung-ho manner and I smack Gregory in the shoulder.

It was then that the intercom on the Bullhead sounded, it was the pilot "60 seconds till landing, it is going to be hot as the Vacuo deserts, so keep your heads down and weapons up kiddies!" We all looked to each other and nodded as we readied our weapons.

I drew _Vindex Umbra _and set it to gun mode. As the Bullhead doors opened I steeled myself for a bloodbath and spared one final thought for my target. _'Ready or not Schwarzer... here I come!' _

**... TO BE CONTINUED**

**A/N:** Finally finishing this chapter at 5:20am? damn where did my night go haha!. Also DOCTOR Oobleck is now a certified BadAss MotherFucker!

I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter and please remember Read and Review people... your comments and questions are always appreciated and help motivate me to keep writing. - A very tired CC signing off.


	12. A Fight for Revenge and Survival

**A/N:** Now for the Climax of Simon's Quest for Revenge. -CC

**Rewritten: 29/01/15**

**Chapter 12: A Fight for Revenge and Survival. Simon's PoV:**

The Bullhead doors opened and before us silhouetted in the sunset was a large once abandoned city that was now aflame as Warhead gunships strafed buildings and hundreds of Atlesian Knights and Black Fist troopers were storming the outskirts. We on the other hand were hovering over an area towards the centre of a snow covered park in the middle of the city.

"Ok people lets go, go, go!" Gregory bellowed, once again taking charge of us as he leaped out of the open door down into the snow.

I followed out second taking my place beside Gregory "Ok mate, where are we off to first?" I asked as i raked the bolt on my weapon.

"Carvel tasked us to sweep towards the centre of the city to try and take out the Fang's leadership structure seeing as our informant also provided a layout of the city. Ok now follow me, and keep your radios on" Gregory whispered as he began jogging towards the city. It took us all of five minutes to run into trouble, a party of about 10 _White Fang _running ammo to their comrades manning the defences came across our path.

"Oh crap, open fire!" Gregory yelled as he lifted his trusty rifle. I stepped forward and hosed the entire area down with _Vindex Umbra_ as the ammo bearers ducked for cover and their escorts tried in vain to cut us down, the few rounds they managed to get off either missed or were absorbed by our auras. This first fight was over within a minute without us withstanding a single scratch.

As we continued to run through the town, we saw several families: unarmed women and children huddled in the rubble of buildings bombed out by the Warheads, the only reason we didn't cut them down was due to the limitations on our ammo and time supplies.

I looked around and up nervously as we walked down and alleyway "I don't trust this." I whispered to Gregory moments before several previously covered windows on both sides of the street swung open and _White Fang _snipers popped out taking snapshots at us. We all dived for cover, suddenly pinned down by the fire.

"Oh this is just great, anyone got any Ideas?" Alex called out from behind a snow covered pile of rubble.

"Well we could call in the Warheads and bomb those buildings into oblivion?" I suggest, wanting to see some heavy duty explosions up close and personal.

"Sorry Simon, We don't have comms with the Warheads, we're currently on our own." Gregory replied sheepishly, which earned him a smack over the head from me.

"Well then, Gregory... you and me will attack the left side buildings, while the rest of you clear the right side. we will meet at the end of this goddamned street!" I yelled as I raised my aura and charged up before diving into the nearest building on the left side of the street.

Gregory joined me a moment later, his rifle slung over his back and his flame gauntlets and daggers out and ready, Gregory led the way up through the building, checking each room for the snipers. Eventually making it to the higher levels we heard several voices as well as shots from weapons. Slowly we worked out way to the door, Gregory raised three fingers and counted down. Upon hitting 0 he bashed through the door and let rip with his flame gauntlets, dousing the entire area in dust fuelled flames. followed by me who shot down the currently burning snipers... a mercy really.

Gregory and I continued in this same patter through every building along the street, despite the fact most buildings were empty we weren't willing to take the chance of getting ambushed. Upon reaching the end of the street we regrouped with the others, I noticed a decent sized gash on Alex's forehead.

"What happened to you Alex? something get the jump on you?" I asked with a chuckle.

The reply came from Sarah "The dunce wasn't looking where he was going and decided to head butt an iron bar that was hanging out of a ceiling" she said in her normal sing song voice. I looked at my teammate and merely rolled my eyes.

"I suggest we move from building to building via the roofs, Snipers will have a harder time hitting us as we run across them." Levi suggested, trying to avoid another round of time consuming building clearing.

I shrugged indifferently and Gregory sighed, not looking forward to having to haul his bulky frame over rooftops "Oh all right, let's go people" he said as he reluctantly pulled himself up and we crossed into the next street before ascending one of the buildings and beginning to leap from rooftop to rooftop. our progress sped up immensely despite there still being sporadic sniper fire in our direction, however the bulk of the _White Fang _troops were in the outskirts confronting the main assault.

It took all of 30 minutes to traverse several blocks and reach the area that the informant had said contained the Headquarters of the _White Fang _in Atlas. We were laying prone on a rooftop looking down on what had once been the local council chambers, the area was surrounded by armed _White Fang _soldiers and even a few Atlesian Knight-130's that had no doubt been pilfered from the facilities and trains they had raided _'No wonder the SDC and Atlesian Arms want us to eradicate the White Fang for them' _I thought to myself, in a moment of reflection on what Kruger had said about us being controlled and manipulated and mislead by the major corporations.

I snapped myself out of my private thoughts and tuned back into what Gregory was saying. "Ok In about three minutes the Warheads will make a scheduled strafing run of the courtyard and bomb the building itself, our job will be to kill anything that is left moving after that. No fancy heroics, don't put yourselves at risk, one lost teammate is enough for one campaign." He said wearily.

Upon hearing Ben's death being referenced, Alex shot me an angry glare obviously blaming me for his friend's death. That glare stabbed right though my heart... what little of it remained that is. Right on queue four Warheads came through and unleashed a hail of bombs and Gatling gun fire into the area below us, Once the smoke cleared we saw that the courtyard was now littered with mangled battle mechs and dismembered bodies as well as a few disorientated survivors and that the council chambers had massive holes blown into it and had begun to catch fire.

"Charge!" Gregory yelled as he leaped from the building's roof and barrel rolled into the snow, regaining his feet within a moment. I looked back to my other teammates and spied Levi and Sarah steal a momentary kiss before we all jumped together to join Gregory.

As I hit the ground and rolled out of my fall, I swung _Vindex Umbra _up to my hip and took aim with the laser aiming device fixed to it. I saw one of the Atlesian Knights begin to get up, I didn't let it as I pumped a good 25 or so rounds into it before scanning around for more targets but finding none. The five of us stacked up on the front door with me surprise surprise on point, I swung around into the door way to be confronted with a pair of Atlesian Knights. On instinct I let loose with my weapon, emptying nearly 100 rounds into the hallway riddling both mechs with bullet holes.

The others took the lead from me as I changed cartridge pouches for my weapon "Simmo, try not to be so jumpy... we only have so much ammunition for you to blow away like that." Gregory called back. as he readied his gauntlets for action. There were very few survivors in the upper levels due to the bombs and none after we had found them, but as we progressed down we found an entrance to a subterranean area.

"Guess we're going to be 6ft under prematurely?" I said in a half hearted idea of a joke, which earned me several eye rolls, another death stare from Alex and a clip across the head from Gregory before he led the way into the lower levels.

It was dark, but we could hear a lot of voices as well as sounds of smashing and as well as paper shredders and the smell of burning paper. "Seems they are trying to destroy evidence before we get our hands on it! We must hurry." Levi whispered as he took the lead: his SMG/Tomahawks raised as he entered the first set of offices, finding and gunning down several clerks and officers. As we continued our sweep of the bunker we eventually found a large operations room filled with the most high ranking _White Fang _officials. Gregory fired a shot off into the air which got everyone's attention, guns and swords were raised to us by clerks and officers who hadn't tasted a real fight in years. Gregory, Levi and I simply laughed right at their faces.

An older man who had horns like a bull stood up with a large axe pointed at us "Attack my brothers and sisters... FOR THE FANG... FOR FAUNUS EVERYWHERE!"He bellowed as he charged us, being joined by the dozens of other Faunus in the room.

I let rip with _Vindex Umbra, _gunning down several Faunus before one got close enough to take a swipe with a sword at me which caused me to back flip to avoid the strike and to give me time to swap my weapon to its bladed mode and to detach the cartridge pouch.

Charging back at the Faunus which took another horizontal swipe at me, I lunged to the right charged straight in, leading with my shoulder which knocked the Faunus off their balance which allowed me to plunge one of my weapon's blades into their back, right where the spine was. Satisfied that this Faunus wasn't getting back up I charged into the fray, cutting and slashing at anything that moved without engaging any one enemy in particular.

Until i came back to back with Gregory. "Just like old times aye Gregory, I still owe you for saving my life... let's see if I can repay that debt today!" I yelled before charging off again to attack another officer, catching him by surprise and taking off both his legs at the knee with a horizontal sweep and plunging a blade right through his heart. The fight raged on for all of about 10 minutes until only the axe wielding general who had ordered his men to attack us was left, bleeding, battered and disarmed... in more ways than one.

The General spoke, his tone dripping with venom "You think you have won some magnificent victory here? No, all you have achieved is your own destruction, The _White Fang _will rebuild and when we do it will be bigger, better and more adaptable to you corporate cronies and nothing, especially not a group of kids will stop us!" He finished off by spitting at Alex, Alex simply strode up to him and punched him fair in the jaw.

Gregory trudged over and grabbed the general by the scruff of the neck and gagged him with a torn piece of his uniform "Now we have what we came here for, I'll signal Carvel for a pick up." With that he began pushing and shoving our new prisoner back the way we had come, upon reaching the surface once more we hid in the rubble and waited for a Bullhead to pick us and the prisoner up.

As we heard the whine of the Bullhead engines coming in to pick us up I did one last scan of the area before boarding and that is when I saw it, on the far side of the courtyard was him, for the first time in three years I had Schwarzer right in front of me.

I didn't hesitate for a moment I knelt down into a sprinters start, _Vindex Umbra _in blade mode held across my back and I took off after him my Aura glowing blood red as I charged Schwarzer who merely took off in the opposite direction. "COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD! FIGHT ME DAMMIT!" I screamed as I once gave chase putting everything I could into catching him completely ignoring my teammates cries for me to stop or the battle raging around me. I chased him through several sectors of the town before I saw him run up a toppled obelisk that formed a ramp onto a flat topped three storey building.

I smirked _'Big mistake cockbite, you're trapped up there!'_ and I charged up the obelisk, front flipping towards the end onto the building. Landing in a crouched position ready to charge. Looking ahead I see Schwarzer standing there, not even bothering to draw his katana.

"I see you decided to join me where there is nowhere to run or hide... how foolish of you. Isn't this just such a wonderful view... the first real battle Remnant has seen since Ruben Field in Vale two years ago, such a wonderful view for this wonderful event, when I finally finish a job that should never taken me more than three hours, not three years." He said in a confident manner drawing his katana with a series of flourishes. I didn't respond to his taunts, my fury channelled into my Aura as i prepared to charge him.

Schwarzer simply stood there as I charged in, low and my weapon held perpendicular to my body across my body. As I approached him I kicked off the ground and flipped above Schwarzer, twirling my weapon in my hands so it was vertical and plunged it downwards towards the top of his skull, only for him to vanish like smoke and reappear a few feet away. I was surprised enough that I forgot to put my feet out to land, instead landing in a heap. I flipped myself straight back up and charged in again with a diagonal slash which Schwarzer dodged with a simple back flip and drew a pistol from a shoulder holster, firing several shots which I either dodged or absorbed with my aura.

Schwarzer chuckled flourished his Katana "Come on, you call that fighting? My daughter can do better than that!" he goaded. I growled and once more leaped in, this time my staff's forward blade crossing with his Katana. I began pushing forward, lashing out with several strikes before sweeping low at Schwarzer's knees with a kick. upon missing I looked _Vindex Umbra's _shaft against my side and reversed the direction of my spin and put all my weight into a sweeping slash at his midsection, Only as I turned to be met with a savage boot to my face which sent me flying across the roof top. I hit the raised side of the roof top luckily my aura absorbed the hit. Shaking my head in anger I hauled myself and reset my fighting stance my weapon held horizontally on my left side with my right hand forward, left hand towards the rear.

I eyed down a now laughing Schwarzer "Oh Simon, how have you lived so long and been such a thorn in my side with such a horrible technique? no wonder so many of your recruits die on their trial if you are the standard they are trained to!" I knew he was goading me but I simply saw red at my fallen comrades being belittled in such a way.

I let loose a blood curdling scream and ran at him, making a feint with my blade but instead shoulder charging him, smacking him square in the face which knocked him off balance. I pushed my advantage and began several whirling blows to utilise both of my staff's blades and to hit high, low and midsection. I unleashed the full fury of my aura, allowing it to augment my strength and push Schwarzer back towards the edge of the building, hoping to push him off to his well deserved death. I kept cutting, slashing and stabbing, inching Schwarzer ever closer to the edge until he eventually was against the raised side. With a scream I lunged at him once more as I thrust my blade towards him, only for him to jump up as to make my thrust miss low, as he came down he landed and flipped off my weapon and landed behind me. I lost my balance and nearly went careening off the building myself, suddenly I found myself cornered and my advantage lost. Schwarzer began assaulting me, aiming for my limbs trying to dismember me slowly.

As he came in for a downward slash I barrel rolled out of the way and then lunged into a series of front flips taking me to the opposite side of the roof top. I felt my aura draining quickly from the amount of exertion just to survive against his few yet punishing attacks let alone what I spent in my assaults onto him.

I stood there huffing eyeing off Schwarzer who smirked triumphantly "I think it is time we ended this don't you, your amateurish attacks have lost their comedic value on me." He said simply before charging me, not to be outdone I summoned as much strength as I could and charged in to meet him. We exchanged several blows, I managed to land a few but his aura merely absorbed them like they weren't anything. Slowly he wore me down, I felt my aura stretching to breaking point until eventually as he landed a diagonal cut with the forked tip of his katana to my face it gave out an I caught the full force of the blow, which left a pair of deep cuts over my right eye stretching from my eyebrows to my lower jaw he then connected a roundhouse kick to my ribs, of which I felt several crack and which sent me flying again into the raised side of the building, which gashed the back of my head.

Slowly Schwarzer who so confident in victory lowered his protective aura advanced upon me and spoke in a tone so condescending it put Roman to shame. "You actually thought this fight would result in anything but your death? stupid, stupid kid... I have been fighting for longer than you have been alive and you have the gall to challenge me? Well I got news for you...merely having a flame for revenge doesn't mean victory against someone who is leagues ahead of you in combat ability!" By this time he was basically right on top of me and he raised his katana in preparation for his killing blow... a blow which never came. For Schwarzer's torso quite literally exploded in his liver and right lung areas, a moment later two loud gunshots boomed over... seems I had two guardian snipers to thank later.

I slowly hauled myself up onto my feet and picked up Schwarzer's Katana before standing over his still living form "You're right, merely having a cause such as revenge won't mean victory... but having friends who share in that cause certainly do help, as you just found out. This is for my humanity and for my parents you motherfucker!" I said as I plunged it deep into his heart.

I collapsed to my knees, still gripping the sword... tears flowing freely from my eyes as I screamed into the twilight sky "It's over, It is finally over... I did it, I finally brought justice and retribution to those who killed you" I spoke softly to my parents, despite them being long since dead. I stood and picked up _Vindex Umbra _and collapsed it back into its travel mode.

Before leaving the rooftop I searched Schwarzer's body finding only one personal item: A photo of Schwarzer and what i assumed to be his daughter which I pocketed. I gingerly made my way towards the edge of the rooftop, only to be met by the hum of engines as a Bullhead pulled up alongside, carrying Gregory and my team as well as Kale and Shauno.

"We thought you could use a lift, before your stubborn... holy fucking hell what happened to your face!" Gregory exclaimed, seeing the deep cuts and bruises on my face. I didn't respond, I just jumped into the Bullhead and slumped into a corner. I could feel the blackness of unconsciousness closing in, before it consumed me however I withdrew the photo I had taken from Schwarzer, looking it over I saw a small caption with my last ounce of strength before I slipped under I read it: Loving Father and Loyal Daughter... Schwarzer and Blake Belladonna.

**A/N: ****BOOM** have a plot twist... that is all - CC Signing off.


	13. A Whole New Perspective

**A/N:**I have gotten your feedback on chapter lengths: Verdict is they will not be cut down at all, thank-you for those people who replied to my question your replies are much appreciated.

**SHOUTOUTS: **To **Blue Hurricane** with their story _"Children and Soldiers"_! It is well worth checking out... it even features an idea or two offered up to the author by yours truly -CC

**Rewritten: 01/02/15**

**Chapter 13: A Whole New Perspective: Mountain Base medical bay (three days after the battle) Simon's PoV:**

As I lay in the bed in the medbay allowing my many injuries and depleted aura to heal I looked once more over the photo I had taken from Schwarzer's corpse, specifically I looked at his daughter, whom despite hating Faunus and their actions against humanity, I could emphasise with. This girl Blake whom like me had lost parents in the most violent of ways. Only difference being that my parents were guilty of no crime, unlike Schwarzer who had committed many crimes against humanity, a small corner of my mind wondered if she had found out the bad news and wondered if she was ok. _'What the actual hell? Did I just hope an enemy was ok? Don't go bloody soft dude... that is how you get dead!' _I mentally rebuked myself for that moment of empathy. I placed the photo back under my pillow and relaxed _'May as well catch up on the three years worth of sleep deprivation I have suffered while serving my species.'_ I mused to myself as I rolled gently onto my side and closed my eyes to rest.

I was only asleep for maybe an hour maybe 90 minutes before the door to the medbay was slammed open with enough force to crack the wall with the door knob. "Simon out of bed you lazy, now even more ugly fuck! team meeting NOW!" It was Shauno's voice, and it sounded frantic.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up "What Shauno? what the hell is worth getting me out of the first comfortable bed I have slept in for three years?!" I growled, ignoring the distressed look on his face.

Not wanting to deal with my smartarsed attitude at this point whistled out the door, in walked the much taller and bulkier Kale who simply picked me up and flopped me over his shoulder and proceeded to carry me to our barracks. Upon reaching our barracks I saw two sets of packed suitcases and Atlesian military field packs by the door, standing in front of them in Atlesian military dress uniforms was Captain Ty Kruger and Corporal David Sanderson both of which were saying their goodbyes.

The colour from my face drained "And just where do you think you're going Kruger?" I said demandingly.

Kruger turned and looked me in the eye "Me? well I' am going home, to my family... I've done enough fighting, for 35 years it is all I have done. From the Faunus Rights Revolution 30 years ago, The Dust Raider Wars, the Vacuo Insurrection Expedition and now the White Fang War, my body just can't cope with the stresses anymore." He said, pointing to his aged and scarred facial features. "Besides, I want to spend a few years with my grandchildren before I grow too old to play with them and teach the boys how to shoot like a pro." he added as an afterthought.

I shot Kruger a glare before my expression softened into one of partial understanding, I know I wouldn't want to be still fighting when I was a couple years off of age 60. Turning to Sanderson "And what about you David? you're meant to lead us when Kruger isn't here... where are you running off to?"

Our usually gruff and regimented 2iC simply shrugged "where Ty goes, as do I... So I' am going back into the civilian world and try to get into university, get a cushy well paying job and NEVER go back to slogging it out in the bush full of things trying to kill me. I also implore ALL of you to consider following us, The _White Fang _is beaten, its units scattered and leaderless... we have done enough. It is time for all of us to try and regain some normality in our lives. Besides, after what we found out during our little detour before the battle I don't think it is a good idea to stick with Roman, it can't possibly end well for anyone involved."

At that reminder Ty nodded "He is correct... If the SDC and Atlesian Arms are really running the show, there is no telling what they could order Roman to do next, which may not be against Faunus. and frankly I'd hate to see you guys end up like Bourbon did during the battle" The old captain said referring to how all eight members of Bourbon Squad were killed during the battle a few days ago to which we all looked down in a moment of silence for fallen comrades.

"Be that as it may Ty, I'll be staying on for a while. At least to ensure the Fang is well and truly defeated." I replied.

"Ah screw it, We'll hang around as well... someone's got to keep Mr Scarface alive, he always needs saving according to his mates." Kale and Shauno chimed in a joking manner. I reached up and lightly brushed my face, still covered in over 100 stitches.

Outside we heard the whining of Bullhead engines warming up and Kruger sighed "That's our ride out of here... I just want you all to know, you did well. One day humanity will look back on what we did and be thankful that someone had the guts to do unsavoury but necessary things for the good of the species. I wish each of you good luck and It has been an honour to serve with each one of you, even if some of you drove me around the bend on every occasion possible" Kruger said while starring directly at Kale and Shauno who whistled innocently.

Picking up their bags and marching in perfect military step out to the waiting aircraft. The remaining six of us lined up outside of our barracks and watched the men who had led and guided us for over 12 months moving on with their lives, leaving us all with a sense of foreboding uncertainty. As the Bullhead took off I saw Lachlan snap to attention and give a proper military salute as a sign of respect to Kruger and Sanderson, at this the rest of us copied him. Looking up I saw Kruger standing in the open door of the Bullhead returning our salute as the airship sped out of sight heading South.

After the Bullhead had disappeared I saw Lachlan smack the wall of the Barracks building "Fuck it all, first we lose Bourbon to the last man and now our leaders have left us! That means the only Captain left is that fucking lunatic Shevchenko and Whiskey and they are a bunch of loose cannons. Let's just hope that they don't get Roman's ear or we'll all end up dead!"

Danny and Luke simply shrugged "If those assholes get us mixed into anything stupid, We'll see to it that they pay the price and go out with a bang." they said in unison. The six of us looked to each other and nodded: a silent, unspoken agreement was entered into, to look out for one another no matter what now that Kruger and Sanderson now no longer shielded us from any of Roman's or Whiskey's schemes.

**6 Weeks Later: **

My recuperation had been completed two weeks ago when the last of my stitches had been removed and I had completed my medical trial as proscribed by the base doctor. Now I sat in the HQ building waiting for my first mission, in fact the first mission at all we have taken part in since the battle.

Roman walked in smoking a cigar and twirling his pimp cane as he always did as he walked in. "Now people, now that you have had six weeks of laziness, it is back to work. First up is a bit of reorganising. Rum Squad is to be disbanded, Luke and Danny will join Whiskey Squad, while Kale, Shauno Lachlan and _The Kid _will form a Sniper/infiltration cell seeing as Simon and Lachlan have both received sniper training from Rum Squads marksmen." I scowled at once again being referred to as a kid, but that was dwarfed by the anger I felt at our team being split up, no longer able to support or protect each other.

"What the fuck Roman... No, I refuse to go along with this! Rum Squad sticks together no matter what!" Kale yelled at the redhead, the rest of us joined in with similar comments or insults towards Roman.

"Shut it you lot... with the losses we have incurred, we must make changes as no new recruits are coming to replace the men that have died or have left. Whiskey lost two of its men in the fight and I need at least one full strength team! I have made up my mind and it won't be changing." Roman said commandingly. We all flipped him off and sat back down.

"Now as I was saying, It is time to get back to work, routing the last pockets of _White Fang_ resistance and breaking their will to resist humanities dominance. Your objective is to search each house and gather the population in the town square in order flush out any Fang members, arrest any you find and their families,. Bullheads leave in 45... now get going you idiots!" Roman ended on a condescending note as always.

"Hey Roman, have you ever tried to NOT be a condescending ass?" I called out as I left the HQ building not giving Roman a chance to snap at me.

As I entered the barracks I saw Kale and Shauno fine tuning and cleaning their rifles. "This is total bullshit, I can't believe they are just going to split us up! it should be Whiskey that gets broken up those incompetent cockbites!" Kale fumed as he worked his sniper rifle's bolt.

"Fucking A man... I swear one of these days I will put a round right up his arse if he thinks he can get away with this!" Shauno replied equally angry. I Ignored them and went to my room to kit up. I sat on my bed and began sharpening _Vindex Umbra's _blades and polishing them as well as cleaning out the barrel and action in case things got violent. It took me all of 25 minutes to finish up my preparations including applying my camouflage paint for an additional intimidation factor.

With nothing else to do for a good 15 minutes I reached into my drawer and withdrew the Belladonna photo _'Is this really the right thing to be doing? Arresting entire families even children for the crimes of one person? Does this make us as bad or even worse than the Fang?' _I sat there pondering this moral dilemma I now found myself in.

I was pulled from my pondering by a bang on the door "Bullheads leave in 5 Simon, better snap to!" I heard Lachlan's deadpanned voice say as a reminder to get my ass into gear, placing the photo back into my drawer and grabbing my gear I scrambled aboard a Bullhead with what was left of Rum Squad and off we flew. No one spoke, no one joked. Not even Shauno or Kale. I think we all were reflecting on where we had been, what we had done and what we were about to do, I know I certainly was... well when I wasn't nearly throwing up from airsickness that is _'Ugh, no matter how much I fly, I'll never get used to it!'_ I thought to myself as the Bullhead sped North-East.

The Bullhead flew for about an hour before it came to hover above a small bluff to allow Shauno and Kale to dismount and set up Sniper overwatch. It then flew towards the small village 500m away where the other Bullhead carrying Whiskey was already hovering over the town square, Lachlan and I jumped out, weapons raised as we joined Whiskey to begin sweeping the town. Lachlan took point, a Shotgun loaded with slug rounds raised as he kicked down the first door, we swept the house, eventually finding a husband and wife with two toddlers hiding under a bed. "All right you feral scum... out into the square NOW!" Lachlan barked.

When the Father stood up to Lachlan he simply slammed the stock of the shotgun into the Faunus' face. My eyes locked with that of the man's young son and the kid's look of absolute terror and confusion at what was happening pierced my heart and raised very painful memories. But I did nothing to stop Lachlan, for the man had acted in a threatening manner towards us. As we pushed the family into the square we saw a man try to bolt from the Square... he made it probably 100m until his torso exploded from 2 high calibre sniper rounds impacting him in a similar fashion to Schwarzer's demise. This grizzly death was followed by much screaming and people cowering on the ground.

"Find that man's family and place them under arrest!" Came Shevchenko's order which was followed out with extreme and brutal prejudice.

Once we had the entire town's population in the Square I saw Shevchenko on his radio, no doubt getting further order's from Roman. I looked to Lachlan, who as always looked impassive, his shotgun at his waist aiming into the crowd of about 200 scared Faunus, about 80% of whom were women or children I just realised. After about 45 minutes of waiting in the open I heard the familiar whine of Bullheads, about 5 by my count. I looked around and spotted them coming in, I also noticed the SDC SSB _totenkopf _ on them _'And once more we are delving into slavery again? What kind of people are these Schnee's?' _I thought angrily to myself as I looked at the children whose lives were about to be ruined. _'How come I never felt this angry the other times we did this? It isn't the first time we have sent women and kids off to the SDC labour camps... I really am going soft!' _I mentally rebuked myself once more for another moment of emotional weakness.

As the Bullhead's landed armed troopers exited from two of them and began going around and taking all the adult males as well as several women and teenagers and herding them into the three empty Bullheads. Once they were all aboard a SSB officer walked over to Shevchenko and handed him a large briefcase, no doubt full of Lien for our _'Service to Humanity' _I scowled _'I thought we would actually be going after what's left of the Fang... not after civilians again' _I mentally fumed for reason's I couldn't explain.

Once the SDC Bullheads flew away we began walking out of town towards the bluff where Shauno and Kale were situated. As I walked through the still cowering and traumatised crowd I tried to keep my eyes pointed straight ahead, doing anything to avoid locking eyes with any kids... I failed miserably as I looked into the eyes of those frightened kids, I saw myself and my heart melted... and then broke. _'What have I done?' _My mind cried as my long suppressed conscience came back with a vengeance. As we walked back to the bluff to board the waiting Bullheads I walked in silence, my mind once more in moral a turmoil it hasn't experienced in years.

Kale and Shauno noticed the distressed look on my face and gave me a knowing nod and a thumbs up, letting me know they got my back and that they understood what was going through my mind, not that it really helped. Upon returning to base and helping Danny and Luke move into Whiskey's barracks I retreated to my room and locked the door, ignoring any and all knocks or calls from Kale and Shauno and the odd one from Lachlan. I just had to get my head around all these emotions that were swarming my head and heart, In the end I just curled up and cried myself to sleep having reverted from the hardened combat soldier to the small, scared and lonely kid I had always been since that faithful night three years ago.

**A/N: **This Arc will have an entirely different tempo to the last one and an entire different perspective from Simon as his mind and heart are set free from the obsession of revenge. -CC Signing off.


	14. A Whole New Path

**A/N: **This Chapter Brings _"From Hunted to Hunter"_ up to 50,000+ words... **COOKIES FOR ALL MY READERS **who have supported and motivated me to write so much in such a short period of time! Thank-you all of you and I hope you all enjoy your RWBYday today :D

**Disclaimer: **I do NOT own RWBY... or Prof. Port would be sent to fat camp and "Don't flirt with female students 101" classes.

**Rewritten: 01/02/15**

**Chapter 14: A whole New Path (Set 6 months After Chapter 13) Simon's PoV:**

As I read a letter I had received from Kruger detailing how fearing for his and his families safety, he had relocated to Mistral I heard a glass smashing as it was chucked at a wall. "Those bloody Whiskey Squad fucks and their money hungry asshole of a captain!" Kale fumed after another village raid for White Fang terrorists went to shit and Shevchenko used some stupid excuse to put an entire village of 250 Faunus into the custody of the SDC for the labour camps... for a very handsome fee of course.

"I heard Whiskey each pocketed nearly 100,000 Lien each, no wonder Danny and Luke became so damned chummy with then and have began acting like a couple of regular pricks!" Shauno growled, sharing Kale's distaste for Whiskey and how our former teammates were now just as bad as them.

I looked over to the two marksmen "Got to agree with you there... If we get given another village raid for Shevchenko to fuck up: he and Roman's manhood have a date with the sharp end of _Vindex Umbra_" I said in a semi-humorous voice, trying to cheer my teammates up, It kinda crept me out to see them so serious and pissed off all the time as they had been in the last month or so.

The marksmen turned to me and both cracked a small smirk at the thought of the two most narcissistic people they knew losing their manhood "Dude we will legit pay you to do that and film it. I would watch that repeatedly!" Shauno said still chuckling for the first time in what seemed forever. It was then that Lachlan entered the room from a meeting with Roman that the two marksmen and myself refused to attend due to burning desires to slaughter the greedy redheaded bastard.

"Pack your bags ladies... we're going back to civilisation for a week" He said with just a hint of happiness, which was rare for the normally emotionless and calculating man.

"Define civilisation, is the war over... we finally allowed to leave this mountain prison?" Kale said hopefully, regretting staying on now that the Black Fist command was no longer allowing people to leave the group (without being labelled deserters and placing a death mark on them).

"Sorry Kale, but apparently despite wiping the floor with the Fang, the war still rages. The four of us leave for the Atlesian capital in the morning, making a stop at a Black Fist base along the way to pick up some civilian clothing seeing as I suspect that none of us have any right now. I have the address for our accommodations while in the capital." came Lachlan's deadpanned reply.

At hearing this the four of us looked to each other with confusion, Kale being the first to speak up "By the looks of it we have got an assassination coming up, though I' am kind of worried about the fact we are beginning to operate within major cities controlled by the Atlesian government, this is a very dangerous escalation and could lead to a violent response from General Ironwood's army." he said cautiously once again adopting his serious tone that had taken over his normal sarcastic, smartass manner.

Shauno on the other hand was smiling from ear to ear "Oh cheer up man, stop being such a downer, we get to go see the capital... Time for some R&amp;R. If we find the time we could even take Simmo to a club and help find him a lady friend to show him a good time" He said cackling with laughter sending a wink my way. I went slightly red in the face at this comment from Shauno and exactly what he was implying.

"Guys, focus... This is a mission, and probably a damned important one if they are risking sending us to the damned capital of Atlas!" Lachlan rebuked.

"Well the mission of getting this teenage boy laid is also very important! I mean he is a damned virgin!" Came a humorous reply from Kale deciding to stop being so down in the dumps and join in on Shauno's antics. Lachlan merely growled and stomped away, never having been a fan of the marksmen's antics.

I looked to the pair of now laughing marksmen with a look of embarrassment and hopeful eagerness "Err, guys... were you serious about that?"

Shauno and Kale looked at me and say my rose red face and then just fell down laughing "Oh my god, that face is just hilarious, we are so doing this!" Came the excited cry from Shauno who was choking and tearing up from the sheer amount of laughter this was causing him.

Kale managed to rein in his laughs "Couldn't agree more... besides we all know how much women dig ugly ass facial scars and teenage bumfluff on 15 year old kids" he said in a smartass attempt at insulting the scars from my fight with Schwarzer and the fuzz covering my face due to no one in the camp except of course Roman having had access to razors in several months.

"Oh fuck you Kale, At least I don't look like a ginger monkey with my facial hair unlike you!" I shot back.

At this Kale stroked his red facial hair and looked down in mock hurt "I'll get you for that you motherfucker!" he said throwing the salt shaker that had been on the table near him at me.

Catching the shaker on instinct I placed it on the table "Kale shoots and he gets blocked... just like what happens whenever he goes clubbing" I say before I completely lose it and run off to my room to escape the raging storm that Kale just became, which just caused Shauno to lose his shit and laugh even more.

As I looked around my room i saw my Scroll light up, walking over to it and opened it up. It was a video message from Gregory with an URGENT alert set to it, My eyebrows raised in curiosity I opened the message to see a image of my friend loaded down like a packhorse and the message began to play:

_To my closest friend Simon, I have deserted from the Black Fist, I simply could not deal with attacking innocent civilians anymore... I know your unit regularly did these types of raids during the war. But mine always was fighting actual Black Fist combatants and to me this work just demeans and degrades what it means to be a soldier of humanity. We were meant to have the moral high ground and be better than the Faunus... but this has simply disgusted me and convinced me that whoever actually leads the Black Fist is much worse than those poor bastards we slaughtered in that bunker so many months ago._

_I' am not the first, nor am I the last who will leave, but it is foreseeable that like the others that leave without permission I will become wanted by the fist... So I' am going into hiding, I cannot say where at this point but when the time is right I shall contact you again. I also Implore you to get out as well... The Black Fist is gearing up to go in a new direction, and from where I stand that direction will merely get anyone involved killed. Take care Simon... I know you're a survivor so you'll do what is right to keep your thick skull from getting bashed in or blown apart. Your friend and brother in arms Gregory Ilan Volker._

With that the transmission cut out, '_Good luck mate, you'll need it while you're still in Atlas' _I thought to myself hoping that Gregory could get out of Atlas and to another kingdom before The fist caught up with him. My fists curled in anger at the thought of fellow Black Fist soldiers hunting down Gregory or any other former member. I never agreed with the new rule of not allowing people to stay, like a conscript army... before the battle of the Alps, people could come and go as they pleased from their units to see families or tend farms. Though most stayed due to their commitment to bringing down the Fang, now that that had been accomplished and they wanted to return to normality, only to be told you'll be shot if you do so. The _Black Fist _in my opinion had lost what it stood for... A beacon for the protection of humanity the moment they made a decision to turn their weapons on those who had loyally served them for up to the last three years. _'A new direction? Must have something to do with our new mission... '_ I concluded in my head as I began packing my few belongings for the trip into the capital, including a small rucksack full of 125,000 Lien that I had received from the SDC for the Faunus we had effectively sold to them as slave labour. Part of me wanted to just throw away this dirty blood money but I knew I'd need that money sooner or later... most probably sooner. So instead I tucked it into the bottom of my pack and set it near my door, deciding to get a good night's sleep before we departed.

**The Next Day (Atlesian Capital)**

Having spent the morning travelling on a Bullhead and then the early afternoon at a small Black Fist base just outside the capital picking up several new set's of clothes, seeing as according to the Black Fist who had been escorting us, our camo uniforms would stand out in the city _'No shit Sherlock' _I thought as I looked finished up having a shave, which had resulted in several small cuts due to this being the first time I had ever used a razor, which caused Kale and Shauno a lot of laugher at my expense as they watched after having demonstrated the appropriate way to handle a razor.

"Jeez Simon, you did a more of a hatchet job on your face then Schwarzer did" Kale said while Shauno lay rolling on the bed coughing up his lungs from laughing too much. I growled and through the face towel I had just used to clean the blood off and dry my face with at Shauno.

"Assholes" I muttered as I picked up the black slacks, tie and white business shirt that I had to wear for the trip in and returned to the bathroom, closing and locking the door to change out of my camo.

Upon realising I had no idea how to do a tie I growled and exited the bathroom to the marksmen who were still laughing at my attempts at shaving "Oi fuck faces, umm can one of you do a tie?" I asked with a pleading look.

The pair of marksmen stopped laughing and looked at me holding the tie out... the stared at it for a moment then just began laughing even harder again "Oh my this is precious... you poor kid, can wield dangerous weapons and kill people but you get defeated by a simple razor blade and a tie!" Kale said rolling his eyes and shaking his head at my pathetic skills in anything not combat related. Finally he stepped over and put it on and showed me how to tie it.

"Awwwwww he looks like he is ready for his first school dance... so handsome, so where's his date?" Shauno Said in a over-exaggerated feminine voice as he walked over to inspect me wearing fancy clothes such as these for the first time and rested his head on Kales shoulder putting on a exaggerated motherly act.

I rolled my eyes "I swear you guys are gay sometimes... mainly every night when I realise you guys share a bedroom." I shot as an insult to get back for this treating me as a child... as their child.

This caused both marksmen to laugh, at least until Lachlan walked in furious "Hurry up you lazy, procrastinating shits... we leave in 10 minutes. I know that you two assholes are having particular enjoyment at expense of a teenager learning how to be a man, but time is short." he barked at the marksmen.

Kale simply smirked and stood over Lachlan, being 9 inches taller "Time maybe short, but it isn't as short as you Lachie" He said smugly and chuckled for all of a second before Lachlan's fist connected at full force with Kale's nuts.

"You were warned about jokes about my height and of calling me _Lachie_" Lachlan said, his voice dripping with venom before viciously glancing to Shauno and I before storming out of the room.

"Well aint he just a kill joy" Shauno said before helping Kale up who had toppled over due to the pain in his crotch.

As we exited the base with our new bags full of clothes we were ushered over to the base commander stood by an aide who was carrying a tray. "Here are your fake identities, in case Atlesian authorities question you. Simon you are a posing as a huntsman in training so that you can openly carry your gun staff without suspicion for either that or the scar." The commander said handing me my papers, I didn't bother to listen to the rest of it, instead going to sit in the large luxury car that was to take us into the city.

A couple minutes Kale jumped into the driver's seat, Lachlan had shotgun and Shauno jumped in the back with me and we began the 70km drive into the capital. After about 30 minutes I got bored so I decided to be a pest "Lachlan are we there yet?" I repeated over and over, Shauno joining in as well.

"I fucking swear! If I hear that phrase again I will ram your gun staff up your arse Simon!" Came the murderous reply from Lachlan whom had reached his bullshit limit for probably the rest of his life. So I sat silently, deep in thought as I prepared myself for what was to come.

Upon reaching the motel we were to be staying out I was visibly in awe: A building that must have been at least 100 stories that overlooked a massive park area on one side of the building and a massive shopping mall on another. Lachlan went to the lobby to collect our room keys while the marksmen and I stood by the car silently.

I was trying to keep my face hidden from the security cameras dotted around the place _'Ugh being somewhere with so much security can't possibly end well, especially with distinctive marks such as mine.' _I thought to myself.

Eventually Lachlan returned and with the keys and an envelope that had been left at reception for us. We were situated on in a four bedroom apartment on the 2nd storey with a perfect, unobstructed view of the park (due to the balcony railings having been removed) ... where a massive stage was being erected on a knoll near the far end of the park. Kale surveyed the room and it's view and nodded knowledgably "50 Lien says that whoever we are here to kill will be on that stage and this will be where the shot is taken from."

Shauno nodded in agreement while Lachlan shrugged and opened the envelope to receive our next instructions "Well we will just have to wait until we meet our contact then, Which will be in about an hour at the _'Chancellors Tavern'._ Sorry Simon, sounds like an 18+ establishment so you'll have to wait here while the rest of us attend, guess taking you clubbing will have to wait until next time." Lachlan said, taking just a little pleasure in being able to treat me like a kid because I wasn't legal drinking age.

About 30 minutes later the others left, taking one set of room keys and leaving me with the other. Deciding against going out exploring at the current moment, I flicked on the TV having not watched one for several years. As I flicked through the channels I saw various news reports and current affairs shows featuring reports about the Black Fist. _'Hmm wonder what the people who live in the cities have to say about us heroes of humanity and protectors of the outer colonies.' _I wondered as I eventually chose a news program that was just starting to watch. About 15 minutes later I was left dumbfounded and angry "So these people in the city, who have no knowledge whatsoever on how many humans were murdered in the outer colonies and settlements think we are just as much terrorists as the White Fang? Well legitimately fuck them... it would have been genocide without the _Fist_ protecting those affected by the Faunus uprising those years ago when the White Fang turned Violent!" I screamed in frustration at the TV before changing the channel. Only to be bombarded by more of the same, _'Fuck me dead isn't there any cartoons on?' _I mentally bitched, wanting something to laugh at like an immature little kid. I eventually gave up and settled upon another news program that wasn't talking about The Fist.

_"Good evening and Welcome to Channel 8 News: Violet Scully reporting with tonight's top story. Tomorrow will be the Inaugural 'Faunus Equality and Rights' or FEAR Rally to be held in the Atlesian Botanical Gardens, with Speeches to be headlined by Atlesian Ruling Council member: Councillor Jaeger Meister and the head of 'Faunus for Peaceful Coexistence' Mrs Olivia Taurus..."_

I switched the TV off, my mind had clicked and I knew exactly who we were going to be shooting, and I didn't like it one bit. For now instead of targeting militant Faunus groups we were now targeting groups who were using genuine peace to advance the Faunus race and any humans that agreed with them. _'So this is the new direction that Gregory mentioned... No wonder he got out. Assassinating a Council member is a good way to end up dead' _I thought to myself as I at once made a decision based upon my desire not to end up dead _'That's it I' am OUT of here!' _my survival instincts screamed as I grabbed my bags in preparation to make a quick getaway... Only for the door to unlock and open and one very pissed off Soldier entered leading two very distressed looking snipers who were each carrying large instrument cases that obviously contained sniper rifles.

"Simon we need to talk, we got our mission brief from our contact" Lachlan said.

I shook my head "Already know the who, when, why of it" It isn't hard to work it out with the names of two major political players giving speeches on that stage tomorrow plastered all over the TV" I replied with a tone of extreme disapproval to this plan.

"These targets are threats to human dominance and therefore are threats to humanity itself!" Lachlan growled in reply. I sighed and looked down to the ground defeated, I would have to make my escape tomorrow in the chaos that will inevitably ensue after this assassination. I simply retreated into my room tossed my bags in the corner, and I began to rearrange my things so that all the stuff I'd need would be in my field pack and anything I could afford to leave behind would be in the bag I had picked up from the _Black Fist_ base this morning.

**The Next Day (The "Sniper Suite")**

We had placed a small coffee table into the middle of the common area to prop the rifles onto and closed the curtains so that they were only cracked enough to give a clear view of the stage that sat less than a 1000m away from our position. I had switched the TV on and tuned it to a channel that was covering the rally live, I wanted to hear the speeches be given If the targets lived long enough to give them. Lachlan agreed to turn it on so he could watch the shots hit their mark on the screen, seeing as Shauno and Kale were the ones making the shots so his and my eyes weren't required to be glued to a scope.

"We take the shots the first opportunity that both of the targets are on stage together, Kale takes the Councillor and Shauno takes the Faunus filth. Now remember people once we make the shots, pick up your gear and exit the building, we all separate and will meet up at the agreed upon location in 7 days to extract back to base and lay low." Lachlan said impassively as he gave us our final briefing.

From outside a series of chants about peace and equality could be heard both through the open window and the TV screen. I took my place behind the rangefinder set up next to Kale's rifle and Lachlan took his place next to Shauno and then began the waiting game...

The wait didn't take long, before any of the speeches began the organisers brought out all the speech givers for some joint message of peace and acceptance, however I wasn't really listening, I had to assist Kale in setting up his shot. "Target identified, 4th from the left, can I get some shot parameters Simmo?" Kale asked, his voice quivering lightly.

I looked through the rangefinder as I heard Kale slide a massive round into the open bolt and ram it home, "Range to target is 977m, no elevation adjustments. Wind is 3 knots going right to left. " I said deadpanned, not allowing my emotions to show. As Kale made the appropriate adjustments to his scope I could hear Lachlan going through the exact same process with Shauno.

I turned to Kale who looked pale as a ghost "you have never killed another human before have you? only Grimm and Faunus?" I questioned.

Kale whispered his answer "Nope, neither has Shauno.. we had always hoped to avoid doing such things."

I nodded reassuringly to the shooter "I remembered the first time I killed, It wasn't Grimm or Faunus... it was two humans while I was on the street, It ironically was also the same night I met Roman." But Kale was no longer listening having put on his ear protection to avoid hearing damages as both sniper rifles discharged simultaneously. I quickly did the same and gave a thumbs up to Lachlan who gave me one back. I tapped Kale on the shoulder to signify that both shots were set and turned my eyes to the TV screen.

Obviously these two had done simultaneous shots before because they seemed to act in unison: they held their breaths and in unison began applying pressure to the triggers until in perfect synchronisation the sniper rifles discharged, sending their deadly payloads hurtling towards their targets. My eyes glued to the TV screen which was currently showing a zoomed out view of all the speech makers lined up, Out of nowhere two clouds of blood and guts spewed out, and both targets collapsed, their abdomens reduced to red mush by the Explosive rounds impacting and their small charges detonating inside their bodies to guarantee death. Within moments without a single spoken word, the four of us had jumped up, grabbed our gear and made our exit and escapes each giving a nod of good luck to each other. The other three going out the doors and I ran forward, right over the balcony and hit the ground running, pack slung over my back Once more into uncertainty.

**Five Days Later **

I was lucky I had brought all the Lien I had made with me instead of throwing it away in disgust, I was moving from motel to motel each night, small cheap, inconspicuous places. Each time i saw a news paper or TV screen it was all plastered with reports and updates into the assassinations. Blame had quickly been shifted onto the _Black Fist_.

Unsurprisingly The _Black Fist_, through a spokesperson had gone onto TV to vehemently denied the accusations but at the same time praised the _"lone wolves"_ who had perpetrated this _"act of service to the species"_ So obviously the Fist wasn't going to rat myself or any of the others out and all the security recordings from the motel had mysteriously disappeared. But I decided I had enough... I wasn't going to go back and risk being _Disposed of_ to tie up loose ends of the assassination, nor was I going to go back and merely kill or ruin the lives of innocent women and kids.

The Fist will hopefully just assume me dead. Tonight I began Down a Whole new path. Once more I packed my few belongings and left the cheap motel room I had been occupying near the Atlesian Capital's main train yards. Walking up to a fence I withdrew a set of wire cutters I had bought at a hardware store from my pack and cut away a large section of wire. As I slipped into the yards I saw a train being loaded, a large SDC dust train. _'Well how fucking Ironic... this is the second time I have stowed away on SDC property, I shall have to leave a thank-you note this time.' _I thought to myself as I jumped into a storage car, I noted a passenger car towards the end of the train being boarded by several people as well as armed guards but I knew that snobs such as those that ran the Schnee company would never come up to a storage car, so I was fairly safe. I curled up in a corner of the carriage, curled against my pack. Dozing off deciding to leave the details of what I do next for when I arrive at wherever this train is headed to.

I was jolted from my sleep by an explosion further up the train. "Oh holy fuck!" I yelled as the explosion sent me flying head first in to the dust car's steel wall. Grabbing up _Vindex Umbra _I scrambled out of the car and up to its roof. I saw a Bullhead streaking across the sky and it deposited several pairs of raiders at various lengths of the train. I extended my gun staff into its gun form and slammed a cartridge pouch in, raking the bolt I unleashed a massive stream of tracer fire at the Bullhead. The door gunner turned his attention on me and began returning fire which I blocked with my Aura and simply fired back, absorbing the incoming fire like a walking tank. Eventually I scored several hits on the gunner and he fell out of the Bullhead, but didn't hit the ground due to his safety harness. I ejected the now empty cartridge pouch and swapped to blade mode, looking around I saw two of the raiders jump up onto the roof of my car, aiming rifles at me.

My Aura flared Red-White as I charged into the two raiders, shoulder charging one straight off the car and saw him fly off, his skull hitting a tree as he flew through the air off the train. I turned my attention to the other would be attacker who was now shooting at me to no avail As I simply absorbed the first few rounds with my Aura before I rolled left and charged in, the attacker attempted to slam the stock of his rifle into my face but I blocked it with _Vindex Umbra_ before landing a knee to the man's crotch, as he collapsed to his knees I flourished my staff and stabbed the blade right through his sternum. Withdrawing my weapon I saw the dying attacker remove his helmet... to reveal the face of my former teammate Danny who looked up to me with eyes full of venom and hate "G-g-god damn *Coughs* damn it all Simon, Why did you have to be here... You should be in the capital, and now you have killed Luke and me! Y-you Fucking traitor!" Those were his last words before he slumped over, no longer among the living.

I looked down at the corpse with contempt "Yeah right Luke, you guys are the traitors... biting the hand that feeds you and attacking other humans!" I said maliciously to the corpse as I pushed it off the train car. I heard several sets of yelling and gunshots from the passenger car behind me.

I ran for the passenger car, leaping across several storage cars in the process. Upon reaching the entrance which had been blown open, I see inside was Roman, Captain Shevchenko and Sergeant Savage all with their weapons raised and they were yelling for someone to drop their weapon. As I edged forward My weapon ready, I peeked around the corner to get a view of who they were in a standoff with and to my astonishment it was a white clad teenage girl with skin as pale as snow, sporting an off-centre ponytail of silver-white hair who was wielding what looked to be some sort of modified rapier which was glowing red as she held it up to Roman, the carriages other occupants were at the far end.

Deciding to enter the fight I picked up a sharp, heavy piece of what had once been a door and hurled it as hard as I could into the back of Roman's head, leaving a nasty cut on his head and neck, which stained his pimp outfit red. "Oi Roman, Just wanted to say I have wanted to pelt something sharp at your head for years you motherfucker!" I said in a smartass manner as the three raiders turned to face me, their faces lighting up in recognition, then in anger. The white clad girl kept her weapon raised, watching this exchange in confusion.

"Oh hello there kid, I see you have decided to be a damned thorn in my side by disrupting my re entry into my preferred profession, no matter... you will be disposed of, Shevchenko has wanted to end you for a long time, so sic him!" two things happened it that moment, Shevchenko and Savage charged me and the white haired warrior charged Roman using some sort of speed enhancing glyphs. I

nside the cramped carriage I couldn't use my weapon to its full effectiveness but I was still more than a match for these two clowns. The two Whiskey Squad leaders opened fire on me, instead of absorbing it with my aura I ducked behind some seats, and huddled down as the bullets tore through them. The firing stopped and it became obvious that they had blown away all of their ammunition, I rolled out from behind the seats _Vindex Umbra _raised as I charged at the pair while Roman was fighting the White haired girl in the middle of the carriage.

I ducked under the pairs strikes with their rifles, but instead I caught a pair of savage knees to my face which sent me sprawling onto the ground. I shook my head and decided that using my 2m long staff was not going to work in such confined areas. I jumped up and charged back in unarmed except for my aura and my body. Before reaching the pair who had now drawn knives I kicked off the ground and rebounded off the carriages ceiling, landing a catastrophic blow to Savage's shoulder feeling and hearing several bones shatter from the force.

I landed and twirled on my feet, landing a roundhouse kick to the same area on Savage, which had him sprawling in pain as he clutched his now ruined shoulder. Before I could turn around to meet Shevchenko I felt a Knife embed itself in my back, around where my kidneys were and an arm come around my neck, locking me into a choke hold.

Shevchenko leaned in close and whispered "Hush Simon, Don't resist the end you have been dealt... just let the blackness consume you" as he twisted the blade before withdrawing it and jabbing it in higher, getting it lodged between my ribs, perforating my lung. I felt blood rush up to my mouth and I coughed it up. Shevchenko once again twisted the lodged knife. In that moment I was infused with a release of adrenaline and my Aura flared up as I turned my head and bit into Shevchenko's face, tearing a massive chunk out of it. The Whiskey Squad captain let me go as he yelled in pain and he clasped his now mutilated face, I spat the chunk of flesh in my mouth right back at Shevchenko before I with much pain, withdrew the knife from my back and flung it towards my opponent, the 8 inch blade going right through Shevchenko's throat. I turned towards the white haired girl and Roman just in time to see the girl flying through the air towards me, I didn't have time to evade, only brace for the impact.

The girl hit me and knocked back several feet, But I managed to keep my footing and actually seemed to catch the girl in my arms bridal style to ensure she didn't hit the ground. Once my backwards movement had stopped I placed the girl down on her feet pushed away from me and stuck her nose up "Would you like another round with this cockbite or do you want me to have a shot at beating him? I ask picking up _Vindex umbra_ and extending its blades. once again.

"No I do not need any help taking down this would-be raider when he is attacking my families train! especially not from some foulmouthed stowaway!" She said in a most haughty and pretentious tone before she lunged back into the fight, by firing a trail of ice along the ground at Roman. I on the other hand shrugged and leant against a wall, my weapon at the ready, but secretly grateful she refused my help, I could feel more blood filling up my throat and lungs from the blade that had pierced my chest cavity. I cough up some more blood, only to hear a smash ahead of me, I look up and see the girl sprawled against a wall and Roman preparing for a kill shot. I gritted my teeth to suppress the Pain and lunged into the fray, leading with my shoulder to knock Roman off balance which succeeded then following up with a sweeping strike at his midsection which was blocked by Roman's pimp cane.

Roman and I swapped several blows, Roman being mostly defensive, due to his weapon being of almost no value in melee combat. I pushed my advantage and forced him into a corner and began pounding him with strikes trying to break his defences. Finally I thought I was wearing him down, funnelling most of my rapidly depleting Aura into my strikes to try and finally strike Roman down. But as I went to land the final blow, Roman managed to dodge it and spin around me. First he put an explosive round from his cane into my gun staff at just the right angle, causing it to shatter to pieces. Then he Placed his cane against the back of my Right knee, he pulled the trigger and a shot rang out, shredding my knee cap. I shrieked in pain and collapsed almost instantly into unconsciousness due to a sensory overload.

**That Same Time Weiss Schnee's PoV:**

As I regained my senses I realised I lay sprawled against one of the sides of the carriage, looking up I saw the stowaway engaged in combat with the redheaded Dust Pirate. The stowaway had the pirate pinned against the far side of the carriage and was trying to land a killing blow. I saw the Pirate's move before he made it, his body language all pointed to a dodge to the right, yet the stowaway didn't pick up on it and missed his strike... this fatal lack of perception cost the stowaway dearly as I saw the pirate unleash an explosive round point-blank into the stowaway's right knee which caused almost instantaneous black out for the poor guy. But instead of dealing a final blow the pirate simply blew a hole in the side of the carriage and jumped into a airship that hovered nearby. before departing he had the gall to tip his bowler hat to me like he was some sort of gentleman!

I felt the carriage slowing down, Obviously they had detached the last few carriages from the train and made their getaway._ 'Damned thieves, my family got enough trouble from insolent Faunus let alone human raiders.' _I thought to myself as I looked at the carnage before me.

I looked to the now unconscious stowaway whom now lay in an ever expanding pool of his own blood. and I summoned the few remaining security guards whom I had ordered to take cover when that redheaded brigand had attacked our carriage "Keep him alive, he has ended up in this position protecting the Schnee Dust Company, therefore we are obligated by our honour to keep him alive and see that he recovers. And will someone please signal for a pick up, before something else attacks us!" I said in a commanding, Schnee like tone. I spared one last look to the Stowaway and mentally pleaded for him to live, for I well and truly did owe him my life and a Schnee always repays their debts.

**A/N: **I honestly could not resist the GoT reference at the end, was impossible not to use it haha :P Please Read and Review people... your feedback and questions always help motivate me and I love answering the questions that people send my way about my story. -CC signing off.


	15. A Whole New Job

**A/N: **Just a quick announcement: Over the coming months in collaboration with **Blue Hurricane**. Hurricane and I will be putting together an AU-crossover focused upon my OC _Simon Alexander _and Hurricane's OC _Sapphire Fall _from their fic _Children and Soldiers_. So watch this space for updates on when we will be releasing that. -CC

**Rewritten: 02/02/15**

**Chapter 15: A whole New Job. (Set 6 weeks after chapter 14, Approx 16 months before the events of RWBY Vol 1, ep1) Simon's PoV:**

I slowly awoke, at first I couldn't open my eyes due to the bright lights and horrible headache I was suffering. I tried to get up only to be gently yet firmly pushed back down "now now don't go trying to move just yet... your body has sustained a lot of trauma and has been in a medically induced coma for 6 weeks" came a calm, yet slightly caring voice.

I slowly once more opened my eyes, allowing them to acclimatise to the light in the room. Looking around I saw I was in a large, isolated hospital room and that I had several drips and IV tubes attached to my body. I looked back to the doctor and the nurse who had pushed me back down onto my bed when I had tried to move "What happened to me?" I asked, not entirely remembering how I'd come to end up needing to be hospitalised.

"Well we don't know the specifics of how you came to be this way, Miss Schnee was not forthcoming with those details. However I can tell you that you have had lost your right kidney, had a punctured lung, a severe concussion, an assortment of cuts and gashes... but the cake goes to your right leg: your aura stopped the round tearing through your leg and severing it, however the concussion from the blast has destroyed the internal structure of your knee, facilitating us having to use an experimental semi-organic knee replacement" The Doctor replied as the Nurse injected me with what I assumed was a pain killer.

Upon hearing this news I suddenly remembered the fight with Roman, _'why am I still alive? he had all the opportunity to land a kill blow!' _ My mind started racing, trying to work out I was even alive, reaching a chilling conclusion "Doctor, where Is the white haired girl with the glowing rapier? Is she ok?!" I asked frantically, hoping my conclusion that she had fought Roman and lost worse than I had was wrong.

The nurse and doctor both motioned me to calm down as instruments began beeping. "Miss Schnee is perfectly fine other than some superficial damage." The doctor said in that clinically unemotional yet caring tone I remembered my father using with patients.

Having had that worry settled, I moved onto the next issue I had "Ok doc... what did you say about my kidney? Did that asshole Shevchenko's blade destroy it? Also what is this about my knee being replaced?"

The doctor nodded "Yes your kidney suffered irreparable damage due to a sharp blade. But however it turns out that the other fellow that was brought in was a good donor match for you, so we helped ourselves to a kidney and transplanted it into you, so you should feel no ill effects of lacking a kidney." The doctor said before flipping through his notes before eventually looking back to me "The knee replacement has replaced your right knee joint with a semi-organic, semi-steel structure designed by _Atlesian Arms Corporation_. That is resistant to the concussion traumas that your knee sustained, however it will take a lot of time and training until you will be combat ready, even then you may need to change your combat style to fit the limitations of your new knee." I nodded in reply, sighing defeated as I knew my days as a kick flipping acrobatic fighter were numbered, but I was determined not to allow this to permanently sideline me from combat.

The doors to the hospital opened and ushered in by an orderly was the white-haired warrior, with her was a much larger and older man who shared that same white hair. "Mr Schnee, we weren't expecting you so soon, We have not had the chance to run any tests on him yet sorry." The doctor said, cowering slightly from the imposing man. which I found to be rather unprofessional of him, my father was not intimidated by anyone... and it got him killed in the end. I felt a pang of hurt once again over my lost parents, a hurt I haven't felt in a long time, but I pushed it from my mind for later processing.

The large man, whom I assumed was the Schnee patriarch simply waved away the doctor "Leave us, I have much to discuss with the young man." He boomed imposingly, causing the doctors to wince and leave. I steeled myself for an interrogation, and also inching towards the tray of medical utensils a nurse had left behind, which included a scalpel... just in case things turned violent. It seems the girl notices my subtle movements and proceeds to move the tray out of my reach. "Now young man... the question begs to be asked, who exactly did I have my personal physicians put back together at my daughter's insistence? your ID says _Sinopia Paulson_ but I think we both know that it is a fake set. And what was this currently nameless young man doing stowing away on my companies dust train?"

I decided to play coy "What makes you think I' am not really Sinopia Paulsen? Also how do you know I was stowaway... I could have been hunting the raiders?" I said trying to illicit a reward for hunting them rather than a punishment for stowing away.

In return for my lies I got death glares from both Schnees and a low growl from the man. "Please don't take me for an idiot and do not ever patronise me!" The man boomed angrily enough to make me flinch. He then pressed something on his scroll and in came the orderly carrying my field pack which I had I had taken onto the train and dropped it by my bed "The fact that it was found in one of the storage cars on the train and matches your finger prints proves you were stowing away... as does the 150,000 Lien in there. So do not bother lying to me!" The male Schnee commanded, once again causing me and the young female Schnee to flinch.

I sighed in defeat, my energy and will to resist completely drained from my injuries and time in coma. "Ok, Ok... my real name Is Simon... Simon Alexander. And I was on that train as a deserter of the _Black Fist_. The same militia that attacked the train... for reasons I not yet know." I said holding my hands up in surrender to the imposing Schnee.

The man seemed to process this information and his expression became less aggressive "Well, if you know this militia so well, then you should be able to tell me where they are hiding... So I can have them dealt with, If you do that I'll see you well compensated both monetary and otherwise."

I smirked _'Maybe if I can't get Roman back for my knee... I can get the Schnee's to do it for me'_ I thought eagerly as I read off the coordinates of out former base. "Oh one more thing, I don't expect them to be there... I have been out for 6 weeks and no doubt they have moved." I added onto the end of the coordinates.

The male Schnee smiled simply "I expect not, however I have confidence in my _SSB_. You have been of much more help than the other one that we found on the train." he replied as he turned to leave .

My brain clicked at the second mention of another survivor _'It has to be Savage, I merely incapacitated him,... not killed him'_ I sat up in my bed "I have questions of my own... what do you mean another one? Where is he mate?!" I barked demandingly at the man, my strength and resistance to authority returning in leaps and bounds.

The man stopped in his tracks and turned to , obviously not used to having demands made of him. I saw the girl signalling for me to shut up and not speak again, her face painted with fear, and a hint of worry. "How DARE you speak to me like that! One word from me and You would disappear, never to be seen again!" He yelled menacingly, his eyes boring into mine.

But I didn't allow myself to flinch "The last person who threatened to kill me is dead, by my hands... I have a habit of surviving." I shot back in a smartass tone.

The pair of us continued to stare each other down until the older man smirked and his expression once again softened "Yes, Yes... Absolutely no fear. Impossibly determined and stubborn, yet has the ability to back it up when it gets him into trouble, You will do perfectly." he said in a impassive, business like tone before continuing on "I shall answer your questions at a time of my choosing and not before... Everything is done my way, no other way. Always remember that." He finished in a warning tone before once again turning away and walking out the door.

I looked to the Schnee girl from the train and we exchanged a thoroughly confused look at what had just transpired. "Weiss! We are leaving." I heard the still unnamed man call from outside. "Coming Father " Weiss replied meekly, leaving the room with her nose pointed up in a haughty fashion, without bidding me so much as a farewell or even acknowledging my presence. I lay back in my bed, wondering exactly what new bullshit awaited me outside this hospital. _'Weiss Schnee... a fitting name for someone with such a cold heart'_ I thought to myself with a chuckle before I laid back down to rest.

**Four Weeks Later:**

I groaned in frustration as I held myself at the end of the walk way flanked by horizontal bars for handholds. It was my first major physical workout without the use of a wheelchair or crutches in 10 weeks, and in that 10 weeks I had lost a lot of condition as well as the ability to walk properly due to the knee replacement, all of this I would need to relearn and regain over time. I began to edge myself forward, using the handholds to keep my balance _'Come on Simon, get your lazy fucking ass into gear and walk!'_ I mentally berated my inability to even walk 5 meters.

I forced myself to move forward inch by inch, but I placed my foot awkwardly and my knee buckled causing me to yelp in pain as the nurse stepped in to support me and keep me from falling."It is ok Simon, no one ever gets back on their feet first time round" The nurse said supporting me. I grunted and pushed myself up, not wanting to let this beat me, taking another attempt I got about 5 steps before once again collapsing, my unused leg muscles already exhausted.

The nurse was about help me up and assist me to get to the end of the walkway where my crutches awaited when the doors of the physio wing swung open, In strode Mr Schnee flanked by two men whom I recognised as belonging to the SSB due to their uniform. "Leave us Nurse, I have business to discuss with Mr Alexander" He said intimidatingly, his angry expression striking fear into the nurse as she bowed and exited the room, leaving me grasping to the handrails of the walkway trying to look as tough and imposing as possible, despite being slightly fearful in my head when I noticed that the SSB agents were armed.

The imposing Schnee stared me down for a moment, sizing me up before continuing "As I have said, I have business to discuss, seeing as you are well known by my SSB for your work as a labour procurer for the SDC dust quarries" I cringe inwardly at such neutral language being used to describe slavery, pushing that thought from my mind I continued listening. "We were as you predicted, unable to find any sign of the rogues at the location you provided, and the other survivor has been less than forthcoming with information on where they would go next, My subordinates in the SSB were wondering if you would be willing to attempt to illicit the information we seek from the prisoner?" Mr Schnee said in a tone that I knew meant that this was not a request... it was an order, a test. But for what? I mentally asked myself.

But before I could answer that to myself I realised I was already nodding in agreement to whatever this was. "Good, Now get changed... where we are going is no place for a hospital gown." one of the SSB agents said as he chucked a black SSB dress uniform next my crutches and he walked out of the room to wait for me.

_'Oh shit... what in the world of Remnant have I just walked into?'_ I asked mentally as I hopped over to my crutches, avoiding use of my damaged right leg. and changed into the black uniform, complete with SDC _snowflake _and SSB _totenkopf _patches on the shoulders. Upon joining the trio outside the physio room, to find a wheelchair waiting for me, seems they didn't want to slowdown for me to be able to use my crutches. Leaving the hospital there was a motorcade of two armoured and armed 4-wheel-drives and a limo. Mr Schnee, entered the limo while the SSB agents and myself entered the rear 4-wheel-drive, I felt my muscles relax into the luxury seats, much comfier than anything we had in the fist.

I sat in awkward silence as the motorcade sped down the roads, looking out the Window I could see by the terrain that this was somewhere in the Atlesian Tundra just south of the alps. I looked to the other occupants of the vehicle and felt my strength slightly fail me _'Don't do anything stupid... no one's going to help you if you fuck up here'_ My mind reminded me as I heard a cough from one of the SSB agents got my attention and I noticed that they must have been addressing me and I was zoned out.

"Oh um, yes. Sorry... this is all kind of new and disorientating to me" I replied meekly, hiding my eyes. I heard amused chuckles from the SSB agents.

"So the fearless Simon Alexander has finally learnt to fear, and it he didn't even have a weapon drawn on him and Kale spoke so highly of you." The Agent who sat next to me said chuckling amusedly.

I shot him a death glare "You're lucky I don't have _Vindex Umbra _with me or you wouldn't be laughing!" I warned the agent.

The agent chuckled and brought up a photo on his scroll "You mean your weapon? yeah I don't think that will be harming anyone anytime soon!" He said handing me the scroll, showing a photo of my destroyed weapon laid out on a table. I felt hurt and lost with the knowledge of the destruction of my closest companion,

I held back a tear and eventually sighed "well that is another addition to the list of reasons I want to kill Roman" I said flatly, handing back the scroll.

The agent smirked "Don't worry, we handed it over to the boffins in the SDC weapons labs, they might be able to either rebuild it or build a new one with some improvements... can't let the latest SSB recruits going about their duties without the latest weapons" The agent replied with a sarcastic, yet informing tone.

_'So I have just signed my life away to service with the SSB... jeez this is like the opposite of Shauno and Kale'_ I thought to myself fully realising exactly what Mr Schnee was talking about when he said I'd 'do perfectly'... but for what exactly I wondered with my leg still recovering. I pondered this in silence for the rest of the trip until eventually I noticed everything go dark, I quickly realised we had gone underground while I had been zoned out. The motorcade stopped and the area lit up, I saw an underground checkpoint and several armed SSB guards approached and opened the door. I clambered out and followed the SSB agents while hobbling on my crutches.

I was led inside this facility that I assumed was a SDC labour camp for its Dust quarries or one of its other mines for various metals. Being led through various corridors I and the SSB agents eventually stopped at a dead end hallway with a single door at the end It was then that I noticed that Mr Schnee was not with us. "Your old friend is in there, do anything you think needed to get what we want... information on where his band of cockbites would hide." The lead SSB agent said he opened the door and I hobbled inside, to find two masked men standing by the wall an in the centre under blinding lights was none other than Ryan Savage... looking very worse for wear.

I pulled up a seat and silently stared at Ryan until his head lolled over lazily to face me "S-Simon, you fuck... you did this to me" He said half consciously. I on the other hand simply sat there and stared, unmoving. Ryan quickly got very agitated at this "Oi I' am speaking to you Simon you piece of shit! Why are you here? To gloat that you finally got one over one me! pathetic, you always were!"

I smirked "Oh no Ryan, I' am here to thank you... for you see without me I'd be without a kidney thanks to your friend Shevchenko, but with your gracious donation, I' am going to be fighting fit in no time" I said lifting up my shirt to reveal the scar from the transplant operation.

Upon seeing this Ryan went into a frenzy "You Fucking butchers! Give me my damned kidney back you cocksucking fucktards!" He screamed at the two Schnee guards who stood by the door.

I laughed right at Ryan's face continuing to show the scar at him "Well you can't have it back... however what you can have is your life if you answer a few simple questions, reckon you can do that? Because I spent a lot of time with Lachlan after the Dex interrogations, learning exactly how he broke the Faunus, learnt quite a lot from him... which I'll gladly show you if you decide you want to put up your tough guy act." I said tauntingly, actually hoping he would resist.

Ryan looked savagely at me "Screw you if you think I' am going to say anything you organ stealing cripple!" came his defiant reply.

I simply shrugged and picked up a note pad, scrawling out a list I handed it off to the guards who nodded and went to retrieve what I wanted. Turning back to savage I smiled and chuckled sinisterly "You have until they return to give me the answers I seek, or I start putting Lachlan's lessons into practice, and trust me... you won't enjoy it, though I might." I said evenly leaning back into my chair to wait. 20 minutes later and the guards returned with a covered tray, no surprise Ryan had not said a word. "Ok Ryan you asked for It... let's do some experimenting. If you want it to stop at anytime, just give me the answers I want." I said as I uncovered the tray to reveal a syringe and a bottle of liquid mercury. Showing Ryan what I had asked to be brought in as the guards began to slowly fill the syringe with the toxic liquid. "You know Ryan, this won't kill you, at least not very quickly... just destroy your liver, brain... your one remaining kidney, your mind will remain sound but your body will slowly rot away from the outside in." I said slowly and clinically all the while watching Ryan squirm and begin to sweat.

I sat there as the guards advanced upon Ryan, his eyes looking they were going to pop right out of his skull. "Ok Ok, I'll talk... just keep that bloody syringe away from me!" came the frantic call from Ryan whose nerves had failed him. _'Thank-you Lachlan for teaching me that fear of pain is a more effective tool than pain itself'_ I thought to myself as i signalled for the guards to hold the syringe mere inches from Ryan's neck.

"Do please go on Ryan, we are all eager to hear what you have to say" I said impassively. Ryan nodded and frantically ran off some story about how a few hours we left for the assassination mission some woman with glowing clothes and raven black hair arrived at the camp and had asked Roman to steal some SDC dust shipments and to kidnap one of the Schnee girls. Upon hearing the attempt to kidnap one of their leaders the guard became incensed and moved to inject the syringe only for me to command him to stop.

"Ryan, how many Lien was Roman paid to do this? because he is now rogue, hunted by SDC, the Atlesian Authorities and I' am sure the Black Fist won't take lightly to this treachery!"

Ryan hesitated slightly "Well there was ALOT of Lien, more than we could count." I nodded to the guards and signalled for them to back off.

"I always knew Roman would be enticed by money to bring his services elsewhere, I just never thought he would be stupid enough to make himself the SDC's biggest target after the White Fang" I said to no one in particular before turning back to Ryan "Thank-you for being so forthcoming with the information, I knew you just needed a little encouragement. I know leave you in the tender loving care of these guards who you pissed off by admitting you wanted to harm their heiress" I said in fake cheer as I stood up and began hobbling on my crutches out of the room, not wanting to see what came next for the now surely doomed Ryan.

As I exited the room I saw the two SSB agents already waiting for me, grim expressions upon their faces "A kidnap attempt on one of the Schnee girls? That is very serious... this will require the most urgent and merciless retaliation, The Schnee Dust Company thanks you for this service rendered, you will receive just rewards for your effort. You will be returned to the hospital and allowed to finish your rehab in peace, but you will see us again. Donning that uniform came with obligations" The agent said as I began the long hobble back to where the cars would be waiting.

On the trip back my mind returned to wondering exactly what lay in store for me, hopefully not more _'Labour procurement'_ as SDC seemed to call its slavery operations. It was dark by the time I was returned to the hospital and in the absence of the intimidating Mr Schnee, the hospital matron unleashed a massive tirade upon the SSB agents for stealing her patients and intimidating her nurses... the SSB agents looked genuinely scared at this scorned woman, and I was thankful that I was not on the receiving end of that scolding as I returned to my hospital room ,thoroughly exhausted both mentally and physically and I was asleep before I hit the pillows.

**4 Months Later (1 year before RWBY Vol1 Ep1) Simon's PoV:**

It was evening and I was just returning to my hospital room after a full day of physio, swimming, boxing and some light jogging. It had been a big 2 months since I was able to walk a full day without my crutches during which I had regained all of the physical conditioning that I had lost during my early time in hospital after my injuries and I had been informed that tomorrow I was to be discharged from the hospitals care. As I slumped onto my bed I removed the metallic brace that supported my still recovering and weakened knee at all times except when I was in the pool. But before I could lay down to rest the door to my room opened up and in strode the SSB agents from four months ago "Well so much for thinking you had forgotten about me and I'd be able to slip away into obscurity" I said in a smartarsed tone.

The Agents merely grunted "Pack your things, you are discharged immediately... there has been a development and Mr Schnee has an assignment for you Agent".

The smartass mood I had instantly disappeared "Oh bullshit, Is this more torture?" I said, not exactly wanting to have to do something so malevolent again. The Agent simply tossed my old field pack and instructed me to change into the SSB uniform that I hadn't touched in 4 months before walking outside to wait. I looked into my pack, noticing that all the Lien that I had to stashed was still there _'Well that is at least one piece of good news... now if only I could avoid whatever bullshit the SSB want me to get involved in' _I thought to myself as I slipped into the SSB uniform and replaced my knee brace before rolling the pant leg over it before shouldering my pack and walking out the door to meet the SSB agents.

Once again I found myself in the backseat of a armoured 4 wheel drive with no idea where I was being taken to somewhere I did not know _'I really need to start taking control of my Life, I always seem t end up in the most fucked up situations when I let people just talk me into or tell me what to do' _I reminisced upon all the times I followed orders since losing my parents. I was jolted from my thoughts by the car coming to a halt at a guarded checkpoint, beyond it was a large castle, with armed guards swarming all over the place _'What in the fuck happened here?' _I thought as I saw vicious dogs, and large groups of troops all over the grounds. The car pulled up to the entrance of the castle and I was ushered in alongside the SSB agents, but not before noticing a whole lot of bullet holes and blood _'Wow, someone was stupid enough to hit the Schnees where they lived?' _I thought as we were led inside and to an antechamber where the Schnee family was situated surrounded by guards and attended to by several physicians.

As I walked up, keeping close to the SSB agents so as not to look out of place I noticed Weiss with a major cut on her face getting it cleaned and stitched, but other than that the Schnee family looked unhurt.

Mr Schnee looked up and noticed me and the other agents and nodded acknowledgment at our presence and beckoned us closer . "Good, glad to see that you are in fighting shape again Simon, and at the exact right time to. For as you can probably tell, a reformed White Fang has launched the first strike in a new war against my company and Atlesian Arms. I got lax in my families security, My daughter was harmed, That is an assault I can't let go unpunished... but that isn't where you come in Simon... not anymore at least, you instead now have the task of ensuring my Weiss' safety" He said motioning to his injured daughter.

Both me and her stopped and stared at Mr Schnee incredulously "But dad, I can more than look after myself... I don't need some cripple chaperon to babysit me!" Came the cry of indignation from the teenage girl, I on the other hand remained silent, but a similar look of disapproval written across my face.

"My decision is final Weiss, you will not disobey me on this. I will not take any risks when it comes to your safety!" Mr Schnee boomed before turning to me, now ignoring his daughter's arguments "Take the young man to the guard quarters and see him issued with a rifle and pistol until such a time that the weapons lab completes his new weapon." With that I was dismissed.

Upon reaching a small building adjacent to the rear of the castle I was handed the key to a room and shown inside and handed several pieces of armaments and their associated kit. "Get a good night sleep, Your briefings begin at 0415 tomorrow" The agent said before leaving me to my own devices.

Upon making sure that no one was in earshot I punched the nearest wall "A good damned babysitter? That's just fucking perfect... how degrading!" I raged at my injured pride, however another part of my head said I should be thankful for a cushy, easy job. I simply sighed and accepted what fate had dealt me, Looking at the time and seeing the clock just striking 10pm I decided to get to sleep now, seeing as I'd probably have to be awake by 0345 to make it to my briefing, which I didn't know where in fuck that was meant to take place! _'Ugh I'll wing it tomorrow... really need to sleep, don't want to be a grouchy shit for my first day babysitting the Ice Queen'_ I thought to myself as I tossed my bag and kit into a corner and laid down to sleep.

**A/N: **Hope you all enjoy this chapter, things are really starting to be set in motion for Simon heading to Beacon... If you have any suggestions on how to better write Weiss or her Father please feel free to either leave your advice in a review or PM :) -CC Signing off.


	16. A Whole New Life

**A/N: **CC here: The first chapter of the AU collaboration between Blue Hurricane and myself has been published on Blue Hurricane's page under the title _Mercenaries and Insurgents_. Please check it out my peeps. :)

**REWRITTEN: 20/06/15**

**Chapter 16: A Whole New Life: Simon's PoV**

_"BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEP" _I awoke with a start and looked at my alarm clock with a glare so fierce that I thought it was going to explode... I hoped it would explode is more like it. I had become way to accustomed to the sleep ins I had while in hospital, dragging myself up and turning off the alarm with a stretch and an annoyed moan I looked at the time _0346\. _

"Ugh, If I need to be doing this every day, I think I' am going to stab someone" I bitched as I got up and hobbled to the shower, hoping some scolding hot water would wake me up enough to function until I got some coffee _'If this briefing doesn't have coffee I' am going to kill something' _I mentally growled as I turned the taps.

Unfortunately the shower had not help and my desire for coffee only intensified as i fixed my knee brace in place and pulled on the SSB uniform from last night seeing as I came to the conclusion that my Black Fist uniforms weren't really appropriate wear here. Before I walked out my door I holstered my pistol to my left hip and slung my rifle over my chest for ease of access in case it was needed _'Only complacent idiots sling their rifles over their backs' _I thought to myself as I exited my room to try and find where this briefing was in the 10 minutes I had before it began.

Turns out I didn't have to look more than three minutes. Central to the guards barracks where I was bunked was a kitchen area that seemed to double over as the briefing area _'a hot meal and coffee? well I can never say these people aren't stupid enough to deprive me of my coffee at 4am' _I thought happily as I entered the building and crabbed a large cup of coffee with just a hint of caramel in it and a plate of bacon and eggs _'Ok waking up this early may be worth it if this is what we are fed each morning' _I happily mused, my mood slightly improving as I sat down to eat. It took me all of 15 seconds to realise I was being watched by just about every other guard in the room, no doubt sizing me up and silently judging me. I simply ignored them as I downed what could only be described as the sweet nectar of the gods while listening into the various conversations going on around the room. Apart from the odd comment about _The new guy_ the conversation here centred upon normal things like the latest ARL (Atlesian Rugby League) scores and how everyone's favourite teams and players were going or politics or various guards' partners and families. If it wasn't for the fact we were all heavily armed and most were wearing combat armour, one could be forgiven for thinking this just the average meal room at an average normal job. _'Normal heh... now that's something I haven't experienced for a long time, guess I could enjoy this after all.'_

I had just finished my plate of food and gotten a 2nd cup of coffee when a loud whistle sounded throughout the room "Ok you shits, on your feet... things will be changing big time around here after the monumental fuckup in security last night!" came a booming woman's voice as this big, stocky, middle aged woman stood near the doorway. All the conversation stopped and all the guards stood, their heads bowed towards the ground, making it obvious that all the happy sounding conversations were merely the guards trying to keep their minds off their failures and fallen friends.

_'And we're back to being screamed at... so much for a slice of Normality' I_ thought a bit disappointedly as I focused back in on the screaming coming from the woman who was obviously the guard commander.

"We got complacent, lazy and cocky! We let out guard slip... one of our charges was wounded and 17 guards and castle staff were killed and another 30 wounded. This is unacceptable! From now on we will be the model of vigilance and actually earn the privilege to be the guardians of White Castle rather than guarding some dust mine in the middle of nowhere." The guard commander spoke, her voice seething with anger.

"The SSB will get the White Fang back for this assault on the Schnee family, but we must play our part and ensure that it doesn't happen again. Which is why the guard will be doubled and roving patrols around the castle grounds will be reintroduced. Your watch commanders have got the new watch and patrol schedules, report to them to receive your instructions. Those who have been assigned to close in protection details for Weiss and Winter will come with me to receive their individual briefings. Ok people... time to fix our mistakes and ensure another Schnee is never injured under our protection!" She commanded and all the guards snapped to and saluted their commander.

I saw that the guards all stood and moved around to different tables, no doubt into their organised watches. I simply stood and made my way towards the guard commander, I saw a girl in SSB uniform also making their way towards the commander _'Guess she is the close in protection for the other daughter... Winter' _I thought as I stood in front of the guard commander.

Once the other guard was standing next to me the commander sized us up "First things first, I' am Commandant Angeline Magenta: Commander of the White Castle Guard. You two if my briefing is correct are Simon Alexander and Amber Flame?" The girl and I both nodded. "Ok good. Amber: You will not be staying here, as Winter will be moved to another one of the Schnee family's estates closer to SDC headquarters so Mr Schnee can keep a closer eye on her, so pack your things... Winter's airship leaves at 0545, The Guard Commander there will give you your briefing upon your arrival there. Simon you come with me, I think we have much to discuss." Magenta said coolly as she strode out of the eating area and I followed.

As we reached Commander Magenta's office in the Guard admin building she sat down and opened a SSB file and began to read it off "Simon Alexander: Orphaned age 12 due to _White Fang_ attack, then recruited into the _Black Fist_ terror group, being assigned to Roman Torchwick A known criminal at age 14. Took part in many "Labour Procurement" missions for the _SSB_ with former _SSB_ marksmen Kale Smyth and Shaun Morgan who were also with Roman." Magenta stared me down angrily before continuing

"The SSB cites: severe psychopathic tendencies, an inability to deal with loss and hurt in non-violent ways. An insatiable desire to kill anyone who has caused him harm or offence, a complete disregard for life and dignity as shown through the torture and execution of several individuals and a general detachment from reality... so in other words, the ideal candidate for their direct action wing!" By this time Commander Magenta's face had turned magenta. "If it had been anyone but Mr Schnee himself who assigned you this mission I'd toss you out right now... I do not want blood crazed psychos on my guard! I'd have sent you back to whichever hell hole the SSB had originally planned to send you! But unfortunately Mr Schnee's word is final so I have no choice in the matter... but know this: I will be watching you and if I feel your fragile mental state poses any threat to the heiress and I will shoot you myself." The Commander said bluntly.

I simply looked at her blankly and nodded _'Fuck... can I for once get a boss who doesn't hate my fucking guts! This is worse than dealing with Roman!' _I mentally scowled.

"That being said, I will also ensure you are well trained and well equipped. I won't allow my personal opinions inhibit at all the protection of the Heiress which is why I ensured the Weapons lab was making good progress on your new weapons set, which should be ready within two weeks. On a normal day Weiss Codenamed _Snowflake_ will arise at 0530. However today I think she will be sleeping in due to the experience of last night... which works for us, you will need to get a Castle watch uniform... I strictly forbid _SSB_ uniforms to be worn here... too many negative connotations go with the _SSB_ due to their less humane activities." Magenta said pointing to the Black _SSB_ uniform I wore compared to the gold trimmed Silver armour she wore, similar to Atlesian soldiers.

I simply shrugged, not really caring at this point, except the good news about my weapons _'maybe they fixed Vindex Umbra' _I thought hopeful of getting my gun staff back.

"Go down the hall to the quartermaster's office... he will see to it you're issued with the appropriate armour. Dismissed Guardsman." Magenta said shooing me out of the door.

As I exited the office I sighed _'So much for some sense of normality... If the commander is that much of a bitch, I fear to think of what Weiss is going to be like, Especially after the way she was last night' I_ shook that thought from my head and checked the time _0445 _and made my way to the quartermaster's office... what followed was an hour of being fitted for a set of armour and several sets of Castle guard uniforms to wear underneath the White trimmed armour as well as several other bits of kit. Before I left the Quartermasters office I was asked if I had any questions.

"Only one QM: What is the Commander's hatred of the SSB for? Thought the guard was part of the SSB?" I asked curiously.

The QM lost his smile "She dislikes their methods and only just recently managed to have the castle watch separated from the SSB in order to improve the guard's public image by removing the bloodstains of the SSB's activities." The QM replied before showing me out "You better get that back to your room and make your way to the Heiress's quarters, she will be beyond grumpy if you're late... even more so than just having you there if her reaction from last night is anything to from" were his last words before closing his office door.

After a quick stop by my room to stow away my spare uniforms and change into my new guard uniform and placing the armour over it. I made my way into the castle _'Well fuck, where do I go from here?' _I questioned myself suddenly realising no one had actually given me directions to the heiress' quarters.

As I aimlessly wandered about I eventually came across a member of the kitchen staff who had a tray of food "Oh you must be the Heiress' new body guard... here come with me I'll show you where to go." The staffer said cheerfully and I simply nodded, happy that I wasn't going to get lost in this bloody castle. We eventually arrived at the heiress bedroom door and the staffer entered to take the food in, while I simply stood outside, rifle hanging loosely in my hands. After a couple moments the staffer exited the room and gave me a cheerful smile before walking off.

For approx two hours I stood outside the door, occasionally walking up and down the hall to stop my legs cramping too badly, until eventually at approx. _0830_ the door to the bedroom clicked open and out walked Weiss fully dressed, rapier at her side and from my estimation 27 stitches down the left side of her face from her attack last night.

"Good morning Ma'am" I said in a happy tone, edged with just a hint of mocking condescendence for my own amusement. Weiss looked momentarily startled at the unfamiliar guard standing before her, so to jog her memory I removed my helmet and clipped it to my belt, revealing the dual scars over my right eye.

It took her a moment to fully realise who I was, but when she did I got a mean scowl for my troubles "Just because my father thinks I need protecting doesn't mean I' am going to appreciate your presence here. Especially since _Myrtenaster_ here is much more useful at protecting me than those peashooters you're carrying" Weiss said mockingly as she compared her rapier to my weapons.

I merely nodded "That is true Ma'am, however my carrying these _Peashooters_ is only temporary until my replacement weapons set is completed by the SDC weapons lab, and then we shall see who is better." I said sarcastically, deciding to see how long it takes to get impaled on the rapier.

Weiss turned on her heel and glared up at me looking like she was about to bust a stitch on her face from the scowl she wore "When you get your new weapons, challenge accepted. I will show you how to fight! Now keep quiet and allow me some peace!" She commanded as she once again spun around and walked down the stairs, me following grinning like a Cheshire cat.

The majority of the morning was taken up by Weiss attending private tutorials on various subjects with her tutors during which I stood in a corner and listened into the topics covered ranging from politics and business to various types of Grimm, I had to admit they were interesting for the most part. However once the classes were finished the tutor handed Weiss a large book that was to be her reading.

Weiss turned to me and dumped it in my hands "Thank-you guard, now please take that to my room and place it on my desk open to the pages the tutor specified" The little bitch said in the most condescendingly innocent voice imaginable.

I merely grunted and turned on my heels to leave and do as the heiress instructed before anything else could be sent my way. After lunch, Weiss proceeded into a large training complex to practice her rapier techniques. I on the other hand discovered a gym and firing range adjacent to the training area, so I decided to blow off a few rounds to relieve my boredom.

Taking my place in a booth I raised my rifle aiming down range I emptied the magazine in one long burst of fire all the while maniacally laughing as the target downrange all but disintegrated from the dust enhanced rounds, immediately ejecting the spent magazine and ramming the next in repeating this process for about 4 full magazines before I heard some chuckles from behind me. Turning I saw several other guardsmen chuckling at me, I removed my helmet so I could stare them down with my cold Blue-Grey eyes. "Something funny mates?" I growled.

At this the group laughed even more "You haven't even finished your first day and you're already on your last frazzled nerve, within a week you're going to be a raging alcoholic... or blowing through 1000's of rounds of ammo each day just to keep sane from being around madam Ice Queen so much" came the humoured reply from the guardsmen as they walked off towards the gym.

I shook my head and turned back towards the new target and continued my shoot, this time squeezing off well aimed bursts rather than just letting fly. Eventually growing bored of wasting ammo on non-living targets I decided to go and watch Weiss practice with her weapon, some recon seeing as I had challenged her to a fight.

Re-entering the training area I leaned in a shadowy corner so as not to alert the heiress to my presence. I watched her gracefully dispatch several Atlesian Knights that had been outfitted as training bots using a combination of different kinds of dust and some sort of glyphs that I had never seen used before. I noted how light on her feet and agile she was and how quickly she could strike with her rapier But I also noticed she only took on one target at a time, Weiss seemed weak at taking on multiple opponents at once, as was demonstrated when she coped several hits from the Knights she wasn't focused upon.

But each time she was knocked around she got straight back up and leaped straight back in _'She is determined I'll give her that' _I thought as I watched her eventually cut down the mechs one by one finishing with a fancy flourish of her rapier that kind of reminded me of how I used to get fancy with my handling of _Vindex Umbra._

I began giving her a slow clap as I walked out of the shadows "Well done heiress, you dispensed those mechs with ease. But just remember... I' am not a dumb mech" I said in the most smartass tone I could think of, _'Damn Kale and Shauno really did rub off on me' _I thought as I saw Weiss turn scarlet.

"Why you condescending scar faced, limping... UGH!" she was that mad at having her abilities challenged, she couldn't even respond to me with a full sentence.

I smirked inwardly as I held my hands up in mock surrender "Did not mean to cause offence, was merely pointing out I' am not mechanical. Also just remember those stitches in your face... you're one to talk when it comes to being a _Scarface_." I said in mock apology as I allowed the heiress to walk out of the room, me following, my eyes scanning for any possible dangers.

After having left Weiss as she re-entered the castle I returned to the guards barracks. Finally having some spare time I began sorting through my things, placing my uniforms onto hangers and into my closet. My stash of Lien a lockable drawer by my bed. As I cleared my bag I noticed my scroll sitting in its compartment _'Damn I haven't touched this in months... wonder if Kale or Shauno left me any messages letting me know where they are because I know for a certainty they wouldn't go back... They would probably lose their shit if they find out I' am here.' _I thought as I plugged the charger and started up the scroll.

What I found were literally hundreds of messages from Both Kruger and Sanderson... all along the lines of 'Pick up you fucking prick and let us know you're still alive!' The last one from Kruger... only 3 hours ago. _'Shit... I only just remembered I technically am a deserter of the Black Fist, no wonder Kruger is losing his shit' _I thought as I dialled his frequency, getting an almost instant answer.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT SIMON! WHERE IN REMNANT ARE YOU... DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED SANDERSON AND I ARE WORRIED ABOUT YOU BOYS!" Came the scream from the old man, who sounded angry that I had taken so long to reply, yet ecstatic that I actually was alive.

"Calm down you cynical old bastard. I' am alive... may not be currently well, but I' am far from being 6ft under" I replied, happy to know Kruger still was looking over us all.

"Good, good... I had Black Fist agents track me down to Mistral to see if you and/or the marksmen had hid with me after your desertion and Roman went rogue." came Kruger's now calm reply, having brought himself back under control like the good officer he had always been.

"Before you ask...Nope I have no idea where Kale and Shauno ran to, but I know Roman and whiskey went rogue... they attacked the SDC train I was stowing away on. I Killed Shevchenko, and the SSB took care of Savage. Unfortunately Danny and Luke also died in the attack." I said in a tone that heavily implied that I had caused their demise.

Kruger went silent for a moment "Understood, I' am sorry they forced you into that position but they made their choice when they went rogue, Ok But if you do hear something from those snipers let me know... they may have permanently resided on my last nerve, but they still ARE my men!" Kruger said emphasising the point that he still sees us as his troopers and he'd do anything for us.

"What about you and Sanderson? Are you still in Mistral?" I asked, wanting somewhere to run to if I needed an escape.

"Nope, I and the family have had to leave Mistral and head to Vacuo, ensuring the Black Fist didn't find us again... I' am not letting my grandkids get exposed to that life. Now where exactly have you ended up?" I nodded processing this information should it become useful later.

"In answer to your question... I' am currently working for the SDC as part of the White Castle Guard. I don't think the Black Fist will be trying to get me here, it would be stupid of them." I replied to my commander, who seemed to be scribbling this down from the scratching I heard in the background.

"Ok Simon, I'll expect regular reports from you... to ensure that you don't give me a damned heart attack, I'll pass on the news of your return from the dead to Sanderson who long ago written you off as dead and gone."

I chuckled at this news of my apparent death "Tell Sanderson Life is not that nice to him to have him rid of me that easily. I need to get going, I'll ensure you get weekly reports from me... sooner if i hear anything from Kale and Shaun." With that I deactivated my scroll and began my nightly ritual of dinner and exercises before going to sleep by 9pm in order to be well rested for the _0345 _alarms.

**Two Weeks Later: **

I had long since settled into a routine, Weiss had gotten back to her _0530 _starts in the morning in order to do early morning exercises and study, I had quickly learned that she hated the early mornings and that she only did them to impress her father despite him only rarely being at the estate, preferring to stay closer to SDC headquarters... at the same estate that Winter had been moved to. Everything Weiss did was to please him from what I could tell... well everything except her fighting, That seemed to irk Mr Schnee that she put so much effort into combat rather than her business and politics studies. I still spent most of my time shadowing her, making as many infuriating comments as possible to the heiress before and during her morning classes before going our separate ways during the afternoon for her to practice her combat techniques and I either went to the gym to work my knee to its breaking point before hobbling into the training area and standing in the shadows taking notes on her fighting style for our coming duel.

I was in a better mood today than normal due to me finally being able to land more than one flip in a row without any pain in my knee and the even better news that tomorrow my new weapon set would be ready to pick up _'Then I can finally show this Ice Queen whose boss' _I thought as I stood in the shadows, watching Weiss who was pushing herself all too hard against far too many battle mechs for one person to handle without a rapid fire weapon or a certain someone's flame gauntlets. I saw Weiss cop a face hit and hitting the ground before jumping straight back up and skewering the offending mech on her rapier _'She is a bloody stubborn as I' am... speaking of bloody...' _ I noticed blood running down her face from the last strike. I sighed and hit the deactivator switch for the bots nearby, knowing I was about to get torn a new one for just doing my job.

Weiss was just about to land a killing blow onto another mech when the bot shutdown, causing her to miss and nearly lose her footing. She looked around and eventually saw me as I stepped out of the shadows, once again a scowl painted her face "Now what was THAT for?!" she asked demandingly.

I simply shrugged "Look in a mirror Snowflake, You have blood running down your face because you busted some of your stitches... so you should go and see the physician in order to get them restitched immediately." I said flatly, secretly enjoying being able to bark orders at the bossy little heiress.

She must have sensed my enjoyment because she was infuriated "How dare you give me orders! I' am perfectly fine... in a battle people don't stop just because of a little blood so why should i in training?!"

At the mention of battles I stopped as my inner monster saw red and ran rampant _'overconfident little...' _My mind raged as I turned to face Weiss once again "1: My job is to protect your life and health, so I get overriding control over you to ensure your continuing health and wellbeing. 2: Have you actually been in a battle? Have you actually even battled anything apart from mechanical training mechs?!" I boomed at her.

My rationality telling me to calm my temper at the heiress lest I lose my job and get tossed onto the street... but I tossed my rationality straight out the window. My red/white Aura flared as my anger seethed.

I saw Weiss look at my aura intently as if it had triggered a memory but she shook it from her head as she focused on the current argument, she opened her mouth to say something angry but she suddenly stopped and looked down ashamedly at her feet. "No I have never once actually fought anything but the training mechs in a proper battle, but I've faced that man who put you in hospital for months. But I have studied many battles to try and understand what they're like in preparation for if I ever face one." She said half-heartedly, knowing I was about to lecture her.

"Studying a battle is way different from actually being in one... I learnt that lesson in the hardest possible way. That was when I was 14 years old, two years after I took my first life! You know nothing Weiss Schnee about battles or about the horrific injuries that the weapons we carry can inflict on a human or a Faunus. I've inflicted death and mutilation for years and had it inflicted back upon me! Also, your duel with Roman is not a battle: yes it is a fight but not what I'd define as a battle!" I hissed at her my Aura flaring much more to the point that I saw Weiss begin reaching for her rapier in case I snapped. I clenched my fists but slowly reigned in my Aura and my anger before turning on my heel and storming out the door. Instead of going to my room, I headed to the gym... some poor boxing bag was about to get pummelled.

I lost track of time as I rotated from running laps of the gym, weights, pummelling every punching bag I could find in an Aura enhanced rage that had pent itself up through months without combat which I unleashed against every implement in the Gym. Eventually I collapsed, completely exhausted against a wall in a corner of the gym every muscle in my body aflame and my knee feeling extremely strained. I sat there for what seemed like forever before I managed to drag myself up and hobble to my room and collapse exhausted into my bed.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm as usual, yet this morning is was sore and sorry as all hell _'Ugh better have my gear packed... shit may get hectic after my great mind explosion yesterday' _I thought as I packed my field pack with the bare necessities for my escape before changing into my uniform and loaded and unsafe my pistol and rifle and exiting the room for the morning briefing, my finger held against my rifle's trigger.

As I entered the kitchen area, not one person looked to me as I grabbed my usual caramel coffee with bacon and eggs, proceeding to my usual solitary corner of the room to sit and eat while listening to others conversation on sport and politics to try and relish the small slice of normality that the mealtimes brought with it compared to the utter chaos of the rest of my day. I sat nervously finishing off my meal, waiting for Commander Magenta to come and shoot me as she had promised if I ever threatened Weiss. But it never came, Magenta came, gave her usual briefing before handing it over to the watch commanders and left however the entire time shooting me hostile glances. This left me very perplexed, but I wasn't going to complain at being given an extra chance at life.

As I entered the castle I could feel dozens of sets of eyes burning into the back of my helmet _'Ugh so it is going to be this silent form of shaming... great' I_ thought depressingly as I once more took post outside Weiss' bedroom at _0526_ _'Four minutes to spare till she stirs' _I thought as I unslung my rifle and hung it loosely in my hands.

Right on time I heard the final adjustments being made to her rapier as it was slid into its holder and Weiss finished preparing for another day of pushing for unreachable standards. I heard the lock on the door click and it swung open, Weiss saw me standing in my customary position and merely nodded to acknowledge my presence, no scowls, now condescending remarks or commands. Weiss was silent and kept her face hidden from me "My morning classes have been cancelled as we are going to the SDC weapons labs to have Myrtenaster finetuned and to pick up your new weapon set. Once I get these stitches out of my face, we'll duel." She said flatly, without emotion. I merely nodded, deciding for once to cut the girl some slack and refrain from the smartass comments _'I'll let my fighting do the talking for me' _I thought as I followed her down towards the waiting Limo and 4-wheel-drive escort.

I made for the escort but was told it was full and to do my job as "CLOSE" protection and get in the limo. Growling I made my way to the limo and jumped in opposite Weiss, noticing an edition of the morning news on the screen I decided to plug in and listen to that, avoid any awkward conversation about my snap yesterday.

_"Today in Northern Atlas: The divide in the Black Fist separatist group has deepened in the wake of its failed election campaigns to take control of the outer colonies democratically. With the two factions officially splitting. The faction operating in the south closer to the Atlesian capital has declared its loyalty to the Atlesian government: renaming its military wing the "Atlesian Loyalist Militias" while the northern faction has declared independence from Atlas and ejected all Atlesian authorities and has begun ethnic cleansing of all Faunus from its territory. The Atlesian Army has deployed a task force led by Major General Ironwood to rout the rebels in order to restore order to the rebellious colonies and protect the Faunus population in the Area while simultaneously taking on the remnants of the White Fang in Atlas which have become increasingly violent, including an attack on The White Castle, Home of the Schnee Family" _

My eyes widened _'Wow I really have been out of the loop for a while if things have gotten this fucked up for the Fist.' _I thought as the reporter continued talking about the need for more Atlesian soldiers in the outer colonies to restore order and to disband all private armies. I continued listening for most of the trip, catching up on everything I could find out about the Fist in my months of absence.

Eventually the limo stopped by a large, inconspicuous building just outside a small settlement. "This is the SDC weapons and technology development labs, they're the ones who created _Myrtenaster,_ among many other weapons and pieces of tech that the SDC has invested in." Came Weiss' flat emotionless explanation, her tone cold even by her standards. Exiting the limo and entering the building Weiss headed off to have her rapier finetuned while I was led to another part of the building, eventually ending up in a small testing range, complete with the same mechs that Weiss fights. In the centre of the room was a SDC crafter and a table covered in a white cloth, which I assumed contained my weapon.

"Ah Mr Alexander, I' am Antonio Sapphire, the lead craftsman for this particular weapon." He said as he whipped the cloth off the table, to reveal a new gun staff, similar to my old weapon _Vindex Umbra _yet much different at the same time. I walked over and picked the weapon up and extended it into its bladed form, noting that it was about 20cm shorter than my previous weapon and that the forward blade sat lower than the rear one. I frowned at this "Oi Antonio, you misaligned the blades on this!" The weapons crafter shook his head. "It is supposed to be like that, you see from what we got of your old weapon we found you couldn't utilise your machine gun function and that the materials and construction were, no offence to be 2nd rate compared to our products. So we heavily modified your original design and used only top grade materials and construction techniques." I slowly nodded, trying to resist the urge to knock this guy out for insulting my forging of _Vindex Umbra. _"Ok what modifications did you make?" I said wanting to know how much of my original design was left.

Antonio nodded gleefully as he prepared to show off his work. "Well we rebalanced the weighting of the staff as well as shortened each blade by 5cm so each blade is 45cm and the staff by 10cm to bring the total length with blades extended to 180cm. Next is the blades themselves, we based your new blades extending mechanism off of a design used by Pyrrha Nikos' weapon in order to facilitate a smoother blade extension and retraction between melee, ranged and carry form. Speaking of the ranged form, your original design in regards to the handholds was quite good so we kept it with minor tweaking. The main difference is the ammo and the magazine." Upon saying this the crafter took my weapon and removed a 30cm portion of the staff which was revealed to be the magazine.

"So you aren't lugging around those bulky cartridge pouches we redesigned the magazine and ammo, instead of traditional rounds you are now using a flechette round that is held in this detachable, 125 round magazine."

Replacing the magazine on my weapon he picked up something from the table that turned out to be a long needle-like round with small stabilizing fins. "Despite having not as much range as a regular bullet, these flechettes are much more lethal kinetically at ranges of 100m of less, which is where I assume most of your combat will be taking place." Antonio said handing me the flechette to inspect.

_'Wow I feel sorry for Weiss when she has to face these bad boys.' _ I thought to myself as I replaced the flechette on the table and picked up my weapon and a holder for it which slung over my left shoulder and held several more magazines across my chest before heading out onto the testing floor.

"Seeing as you're so eager to test it, I'll activate the testing mechs, have fun Mr Alexander." Antonio said as he raised several bullet proof screens and the mechs activated and charged me.

I racked the bolt on my new weapon and fired off several bursts of the new flechette rounds which shredded straight through the mechs and embedded themselves halfway through the bullet proof screens. I was very surprised just how lethal these needles were _'Ok maybe not use these on Weiss, I'd hate to impale her' I_ thought as the last of the mechs fell.

Antonio clapped from the arena's control booth and activated a 2nd group of 5 mechs. This time I extended the blades, seeing them extend in several segments and lock into place, I flourished my new weapon and charged into the mechs utilising brute force cuts and slashes and stabs instead of my former style of kicks and flips as well as more graceful, acrobatic motions with my blades. The first two mechs fell easier but my reaction times were slow and my senses dulled by months without constant practice and combat, which caused the 3rd mech to get a clean strike to the back of my head. It sent me sprawling on the ground. "Oh you cheeky little shit!" I growled as I unleashed a burst of 30 flechettes into the mech, noting the slight loss of accuracy and increased round dispersion when the blade was extended combined with the lack of a laser aimer in blade mode. Once the 3rd mech had fallen I quickly dispensed of the next mech with a decapitating strike. The final mech and I circled each other momentarily before I lunged In and before I reached it I harnessed my aura to augment my jump as I flipped over the mech and brought myself down behind it, changing instantly into a horizontal slash which slashed the mech in 2.

As the mech fell I felt my knee strain but not buckle or give way _'Well that's a piece of very good news, it's healing' _I thought happily as the bullet proof screens dropped.

"Bravo Mr Alexander, I hope you are very happy with your new weapon... if you need more magazines or flechettes, just say so. The SDC is happy to supply you with all the ammo and parts you need. And one more thing before you go, as a side project I and the others put this together from the blades of your old weapon as a back up and surprise weapon." The crafter said, handing me a metal case. Which contained a pair of black armoured gauntlets. I picked them up and attached them to my wrists, flicking them I saw blades about 30cm long extend out: engraved into one blades was the word _Vindex_ and _Umbra _into the other one. A flood of memories came back and I smiled nostalgically at the gauntlets. "Thank-you, I'll be sure to put these to very good use." I said as I left the testing room to go and find the Heiress.

I found her waiting impatiently in the lobby. "Finally Guard, how long does it take to pick up a weapon?" She asked somewhat annoyingly.

I shrugged "Depends... I tested it out before I accepted it, never accept a weapon you haven't seen in action" I replied nonchalantly, which succeeded in infuriating the heiress but she didn't say anything, preferring to keep her calm demeanour in front of the SDC staff, who would have been sure to ensure any un-Schnee like outbursts were reported to her father.

**1 Week Later:**

After I had received my new weapon I had taken to training with it incessantly, whenever I had spare time I was constantly working on my melee combat and trying to get the instincts and reaction times I once possessed. Though I was having some success with my regaining those, regaining my agility and acrobatic style was proving more troublesome as my knee was still getting used to the increased tempo of my movements and it quickly strained early on, but the more I practiced I could feel my knee lasting slightly longer each day.

Today started off like any other, however I knew it would be different as Weiss had gotten the stitches removed from her face the evening before after I had returned to the guard building and I knew that today she would be itching for that duel because I had been goading her more than usual with my snide remarks... It really is surprising she hasn't impaled me already. As I stood guard outside Weiss' door that morning I adjusted the blade gauntlets on my arm which I was wearing for the first time, just in case I needed them in the duel.

Weiss exited her room a couple minutes later than usual and looked to my helmeted form with a smug, superior grin "Today I put you in your place guard, you'll learn the consequences of trying to best a Schnee" She confidently. I merely shook my head, a small smirk appearing on my face in anticipation of what was to come I noted the fresh raised scar that had replaced the stitches on her face, which Weiss attempted to hide by having her hair down over it. Weiss morning history tutorial was based around some boring economics subject which I barely paid attention to, instead just trying not to fall asleep. By the time Weiss had gone off for her lunch I slunk back to the barracks and changed into my old Black Fist uniform, minus the shoulder patches identifying my former allegiance due to the greater flexibility and freedom of movement it gave me compared to the armour that the guardsmen wore. Replacing the sling and bandolier for my weapon back over my shoulder and fixing the gauntlets back over my wrist I proceeded to the training area, where Weiss was already waiting for me, _Myrtenaster _in her hand pointed towards me. "Right then... you ready?" She said simply with a flourish of her rapier.

Not replying to the heiress I drew my weapon and set it into its gun mode, setting the laser sight on Weiss' forehead I let loose with a burst of flechette rounds, the darts being stopped by a wall of Ice chucked up by Weiss before she used her glyphs to speed herself up and charge me. I barrel rolled to my left and swung my weapon around to unleash more flechettes towards the heiress who leaped up into the air using her glyphs to essentially run across the air and out of the path of my flechettes. As the magazine on my weapon emptied I ejected it and drew another one from my bandolier and placed it in place on my staff, taking less than three seconds to complete the reload.

Swinging around to once again take aim at the heiress I saw just in time to see a chunk of ice headed my way, causing me to back flip out of the way, landing awkwardly on my knee. Grunting I decided to step it up I extended my weapons blades and charged in with all my force behind the swing. A Mighty clang echoed throughout the arena as _Myrtenaster's _blade met with the forward blade of my weapon. We began trading blows, neither person able to get an advantage... at least until as our weapons once more locked i slammed Weiss with a head but which sent her reeling, Pressing my assault I picked up the tempo of my strikes, each one trying to disarm rather than dismember Weiss.

I was enjoying actually having someone to fight again, I massive grin covered my face as I continued forcing Weiss into a corner. Then out of nowhere came a swift kick to my injured knee, I yelped in pain, however my Aura protected it from any damage actually being done to it.

"Oh you sneaky little..." I caught my tongue before I could finish my insult and charged back in at Weiss who catapulted herself with a glyph and landed behind me, swiftly delivering a punishing strike to my weapon, sending it clattering across the arena floor. Weiss smirked triumphantly and lunged in to win the match with a strike to my chest, however I threw my arms up and caught her rapier between the blades of my gauntlets. I was not used to using such weapons and knew I either had to get my staff back or end this now, deciding upon the later I pushed Weiss' rapier away and dropped into a spinning kick which somehow managed to knock Weiss down to the ground, I quickly retracted the blades on my gauntlets and lunged onto Weiss, rolling her on her back and executing a straight arm bar on her dominant left arm.

I heard a sharp yelp of pain from the heiress as I hyper rotated her elbow and shoulder joints, doing it slowly as to drag out the pain and give her time to submit before I injured her. "Come on Weiss you can't win, tap out before I' am forced to break something!" I commanded her, a threatening edge to my voice.

Weiss began to open her mouth to tell me to where to shove my demands of surrender, before I applied more pressure to her arm. "Ok Ok I yield, just let go of my arm!" She yelped, obviously in a lot of pain.

I smirked evilly and let go over, rolling away before standing to retrieve my weapon, As I picked it up and turned around I was faced with a menacing scowl from Weiss who was right in my face. "You cheated you little scoundrel!" the Heiress complained.

I laughed right in her face "First rule of combat... there is no such thing as cheating, you do ANYTHING needed to win, If that means having to carry concealed weapons or have a bit of rough and tumble in the dirt, so be it. Because out in the real world... it is kill or be killed, no rules, no holds barred... pure survival of the fittest and smartest combatants." I said smugly and holstered my weapon.

"I will beat you eventually, even if I have to train and spar with you every day!" Weiss replied, determined to beat me and become better.

I stopped, thinking this over for a moment, deciding I needed the practice just as much as she did. "Deal, we'll start tomorrow... but for now I need to let my knee rest." I said walking out of the arena, a slight limp present in my knee from the strike it had taken from Weiss, for once the day hadn't ended with us a moment away from strangling or impaling each other, Weiss seemed to have learned a healthy respect for my tenacity in battle after the ass kicking she had been dealt. I on the other hand had allowed all the pent up rage to be vented in the fight.

That night after making my weekly report to Kruger, I took out a book I had _'borrowed' _from the Schnee family library, it was on the Great War nearly 80 years ago. It was very good reading to compare weapons and tactics from then and now. I came to regret this choice of reading when I came to a section on the mentality of soldiers in war and their loss of their morals and values in favour of survival: this section hit me hard especially the quote from the author. A man named Friedrich Nietzsche that made me take a good hard look at myself and made me realise exactly what had happened to me over the last 4 years. _"__He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster . . . when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you"_

**A/N: **After much indecision I eventually decided to split this chapter, rather than have an even longer monster of a chapter. Now with this story I have already had a couple questions about it with regards to any pairings that I may include: I have given it a bit of thought at some I might put in, but I' am not the best at writing fluffy things... But If people request for something, you never know I might end up inspired and include it somewhere if I feel it will add depth to the story I' am trying to tell. As always please **Review Review Review** people... I always respond to any questions, criticisms or praise that my readers send my way! -CC Signing off.


	17. Coming to Terms

**A/N:** Due to a couple people asking me how long until I was going to update again and thinking waiting until Friday when I had the first chapter of the sequel finished was too long to wait. So in response to my valued readers advice: I once again have split the concluding chapter in order to give my readers something to enjoy while I finalise the first chapter of the Sequel (My plan always was to have the first chapter of the sequel released about the same time as the Volume finale, so this isn't pushing it back.. it is merely making the wait between updates less.) I hope people don't see this as a tease seeing as I keep promising the next chapter is going to be the last... But Come Friday 31st October the Sequel **WILL **be uploaded :)

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read the first RWBY Fanfic I have made (and the first Fanfic I have written at all in nearly a year)... Special thank-you to **xThat One Personx, lioncousin**, **Blue Hurricane, Monochrome Spectrum, HeroBladeRiyet, DePlexx **and **Presbydos** for your consistent reviews, PM's, questions, encouragement and advice... you people have been a great motivation to keep writing. I hope you all enjoy this deeper look into Simon's fractured mind -CC

**On a side note: Simon's theme song is **_**"What I've Done" -Linkin Park.**_

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own RWBY, that great privilege goes to the team at Rooster Teeth and Monty. But if I did own it: I'd send Neo to a psychologist... girl was taking way too much joy in killing Yang.

**Chapter 17:Coming to Terms. Simon's PoV: 1 Week after the conclusion of Chapter 16 (11 Months before RWBY Vol1 ep1)**

I had spent most of the previous evening in the guards machining room engraving the quote I had read into the staff of my weapon, now named _Umbra Vigilans (The Watchful Shadow) _as a reminder to never again allow myself to become the remorseless killer I had been in the Fist_. _As I entered the kitchen that morning and followed my usual routine I sat in my corner, still reflecting upon everything I had done in extremely great detail... finding myself completely disgusted by the things I had found myself capable of when I had given up my humanity and my conscience. I was drawn from my self-loathing by my name being called by Commander Magenta. I looked up to see the Commander standing in front of me having finished her morning briefing, looking very pissed. "Simon, Mr Schnee arrived at the estate very late last night and has requested a meeting with you... better have your shit packed, because if he listened to me you'll be gone today!" the Commander scowled, obviously pissed at me over the screaming with Weiss a couple weeks back then the punishing sparing sessions that I had subjected the Heiress to each day this week as well as the general contempt I treated her with. I merely shrugged at the Commander "you're face is the same colour as your name again Magenta, you may need some anger management classes?" and then walked out of the briefing room, leaving behind a stunned group of castle guards and a beyond pissed off guard commander.

Upon entering the castle I was met by one or Mr Schnee's SSB guards and brought to the man's study, leaving my helmet and weapons outside as I was ordered to. I saw the head of the Schnee Family filling out paperwork with an exceedingly grumpy look upon his face. "Hello Mr Alexander, do please take a seat" Came the disarming introduction, I did what I was told not really wanting to cause a scrap between myself and Mr Schnee. "Now Mr Alexander, I had Commander Magenta in here last night giving me a massive list of reasons as to why I should either dismiss you from my service or send you back to the SSB ranging from the contempt you treat her with, through to verbally berating my daughter and engaging in armed combat with her. Those last reasons are how you end up dead Mr Alexander, you have any rebuttal before I render my decision?" Mr Schnee said evenly, not giving anything away as to his intentions.

I gave it a moment's thought "Well Mr Schnee, Commander Magenta has given me absolutely no reason not to treat her with contempt, given that she sees me as some intrusive piece of SSB trash... her words not mine. As for those incidents regarding your daughter, I berated her due to her claiming to have knowledge in an area that I was an expert and she had no idea of. And the combat... She needs to practice her fighting on more than training mechs if she is to progress in her skill at all, she has no idea how to adapt to the challenges and surprises that a human combatant can throw her way." I replied in a flat businesslike tone, staring Mr Schnee right in the eyes. Mr Schnee grunted "I really don't frighten you do I? You aren't afraid to tell it to me straight rather than cower and grovel to me and only say what I want to hear like most people do." I simply shrugged "I' am well aware of what you have the potential to do to me if i end up on your bad side, but after the last 4 years... I honestly don't give a damn. Besides if you really were going to get rid of me it would have already been done, you wouldn't have bothered with this meeting... I simply would have disappeared sometime last night." I replied matter-of-factly. My eyes still fixated on Mr Schnee trying to judge if I had signed my own death mark. Mr Schnee looked at me for a moment, stunned at my reply. "You happen to be correct, I never did intend to remove you from your current post.. however be careful with your attitude lest you end up in trouble. As for my daughter's combat skill... how would you appraise them as someone with much more experience?" Mr Schnee Asked.

"Honestly? She has potential, her weapon and semblance complement each other very well, however she needs smarter, faster and more difficult opponents in order to get better... I will only present a challenge for so long until she gets used to my techniques and I get used to hers." I replied, wondering where this was going. Mr Schnee now smirked "Ok Mr Alexander, I'll organise some tougher opponents for her to prove herself on. In the meantime, continue training with her... If she wishes to attend that Academy in Vale she has been pestering me about she will have to work very hard for it! And if she doesn't meet my expectations with her skill, she won't be attending. Now that will be all, I have to deal with the latest _White Fang _attacks on my company in Vale and Mistral." With that I was shown out to being my duties for the day, arriving at Weiss' door just as she opened it up, she looked very stressed, the still fresh pink scar where her stitches had been standing out on her paler than usual skin. "Something the matter ma'am?" I asked, deciding to play things official and formal while Mr Schnee was around. Weiss turned to look at me, the strain clearly written across her face "Nothing that concerns you" came the snappy reply. _'And that is why the guards call you Ice Queen among other more vulgar things' _I thought to myself I thought to myself as I followed behind the Heiress, who headed towards her father's office. I hung back outside with the SSB guards while Weiss entered to see her father for what I assumed was about the first time since the attack on the White Castle.

I paced outside of the door, the boredom of waiting overtaking me. I noticed the eyes of the SSB guards followed me as I paced, which irked me greatly "Oi, If you're going' to stare... at try to speak to me, might make this boredom a bit more bearable for us all." I said flustered towards the guards who just continued staring mutely which frustrated me further. Just as I was about to smack the guards in the face the door clicked open and a meek looking Weiss exited who walked off speedily, before following I sent one final scowl and a one fingered salute towards the guards and off I strode after Weiss. She was more edgy than usual through her classes and when it came time for our daily sparing practice She fought with a ferocity and anger I hadn't seen in her before. I quickly found myself on the back foot against her aggressive use of glyphs and ice. I ended up slipping on the ice that Weiss had put down in front of me as I charged her. As I laid sprawled on the ground I saw Weiss charging in, her rapier glowing a dangerous white. _'Oh holy fuck this is going to hurt' _I thought as I raised the most powerful aura shield I could... only for something peculiar to happen. I saw time slowdown, my senses sharpened and I saw Weiss' strike incoming, already increasing in speed... without thinking I rolled to my right, feeling time speeding up again, but now I was out of the way of whatever strike Weiss had in store for me. When Weiss hit nothing but the ground and stumbled I punted the rapier out of her hands and picked it up for myself, flourishing it victoriously.

Weiss turned and scowled at me "Give me back Myrtenaster!" She demanded, an ever increasing amount of venom in her voice. I chuckled, once again flourishing the rapier so that I was holding it by the blade and the hilt faced towards Weiss. The angry heiress went to grab the blade but I pulled it back out of her reach, "I' am NOT in the mood for your games Simon!" Weiss growled at me menacingly, obviously fed up with my shit, but I on the other hand was having an absolute ball. "You know Weiss, That time on the train wasn't the first time we met?" I said flaring my red-white Aura, knowing I was about to unleash a massive storm of anger, but decided now was as good as time as any to spring this on her, while she didn't have a lethal rapier and when she needed something to lighten her mood, I just hoped this wouldn't backfire. Weiss tilted her head as her memory put the pieces together. "You were the stowaway on the dust ship a few years back weren't you?" I nodded smirking, slowly edging myself towards the door. Weiss nodded slowly, the pieces falling slowly into place and a seething look crept onto the Heiress' face "YOU... YOU DESTROYED THE DRESS DAD HAD BOUGHT FOR ME ALL THE WAY FROM VALE?!" Weiss screamed accusingly. I simply laughed, "Yeah that was me... never got the chance to leave a thank-you note for the comfy bed while on the run from psycho Faunus." At this snide remark Weiss snapped and with charged me, causing me to throw _Myrtenaster _in the opposite direction of the door and make my getaway as Weiss retrieved her weapon "I'll get you Simon... you can't avoid retribution for this!" came the vengeful scream. _'Yeah but hopefully by that time you won't be so damned over emotional about something from 4 years ago'_ I thought as I made my escape back to the guards barracks.

Once I made it back to my room, I slammed the door shut and locked it. Finally safe from the ticking time bomb that was Weiss' temper I laid back on my bed and opened up the code locked journal I had been recording all the horrific deeds I had done since my life had been torn apart. I recorded everything in as much detail as I could, so that if I were to die, at least the crimes of others wouldn't go unpunished... especially those of the SDC and Atlesian Arms, While I would still kill White Fang scum without a 2nd thought... targeting innocent Faunus like I once did was something I would never do again, I'd sooner turn my weapons on my allies before doing that. As I finished detailing my account of the various raids on Faunus villages, feeling a bit of the guilt I felt come off my shoulders knowing that one day a written account of the Crimes that SDC, Atlesian Arms and the Black Fist will one day become public I closed and locked the journal and placed it back in my drawer and went about getting dinner and doing my nightly exercises before getting some rest, plotting ways to weasel out of any possible revenge Weiss may have planned for me until sleep overtook me and the horrors that are my memories came out to torment me.

**A Few Days Later: **

It was Saturday and I awoke and went through my usual routine, at least until I got to the morning briefing, where I was told by Commander Magenta that for today and tomorrow my services weren't needed as Weiss was spending time with her father and that his guards would be responsible for her protection during that time. I didn't complain... this was my first actual time off, well ever. I simply made my way to my room and changed out of my guards uniform and into one of the sets of Black Fist snow uniforms I had and exited the castle grounds on one of the castle guard's quad bikes (that I may not have had permission to take) and made my way into the forest near the castle, for a day of pointless riding, cutting up off road on the quad bike. I did this for several hours in the snowy pastures adjoining White Castle. By the end of it about an hour before sunset, I was covered in snow but extremely happy and enjoying every minute, as I approached the castle grounds once again, I gunned the bike and went in for one last donut at full speed before i returned it to where I found it.

Just as I began to cut hard left I saw a glowing glyph appear on the ground _'What the actual fuck?!' _My mind screamed as I tried to avoid it... too late, the Quad bike hit the glyph and it stopped in its tracks. I however kept going flying, I braced for impact on the grass but this time I hit a speed glyph that led onto a track of Ice that was forming before my eyes. My mind very quickly worked out what was going on "FUCK YOU WEISS!" I yelled as I saw the ice path run down a nearby hill into a semi-frozen lake. _'That evil ice hearted bitch... I knew I shouldn't have confessed to ruining the dress.' _was my last thought before I hit the icy slosh that was the lake. _'Holy fuck this is SO DAMNED COLD!' _I thought as I broke the surface and scrambled for the shore, flaring my aura as I did, hoping it would warm me up... it didn't. I looked up to the top of the hill to see Weiss nearly falling over in hysterics at the misfortune she had caused me "Consider ourselves even Simon... you ruined my dress and you take an ice bath" came her call, barely hiding laughter. I growled and scrambled through the snow... my anger seething, just about ready to slice the heiress into as many pieces as I possibly could and feed her to the nearest grim. As I reached the top of the slope and met the still chuckling Heiress my anger failed me as my mind pointed out I had never actually seen Weiss smile or laugh.

"You seem very happy with yourself... I swear if I get hypothermia I will end you in our next duel." I managed to squeak out between my chattering teeth. Weiss simply shrugged, seeming carefree in a way I'd never seen before "Well if it comes to that, It was totally worth it to see you take a dunk." The heiress replied, still laughing... which by this point was kinda creeping me out "Ok who are you and what did you do with Weiss Schnee?" I asked accusingly, not used to seeing the Heiress as anything but pretentious and stuck up and over confident. "What? Can't I have a sense of humour away from the watching eyes of my family and their staff? Besides doing things outside of their say so is always fun" Weiss replied to me in a serious tone finally managing to get her laughter under control. This left me at a bit of a loss for words at this hidden rebellious streak in the white haired girl. "Having a sense of humour is fine... but this seems a bit overboard for something that i did out of necessity as a 12 year old." I growled, heading back to the still running quad bike and readied myself to go back to the castle. "Well If you excuse me snowflake, I have to find a source of extreme heat before I freeze... I' am sure you can make your way back to the castle seeing as you got out here just fine." And with that I sped off towards the castle.

Looking around I saw Weis chasing after me, using her glyph's to run across the air. "You won't catch me Weiss, glyphs or no glyphs... I always win, be it races or fights!" I yelled out and gunned the quad bike, pushing its engine to the limits. I saw the castle come into sight, I also saw patches of ice suddenly appearing in front of me, _'Oh no Weiss, fool me once.. shame on you... fool me twice'. _I went into evasive manoeuvres, dodging the ice, just the same as I had dodged bullets on a similar quad bike so many months ago during one of the many missions hunting for Schwarzer, except now instead of fear, hate and anger coursing through my mind, it was now replaced competitiveness, humour and a generally lighter mood than existed during my time with Rum Squad. All the anger I had felt from the dip in the lake left me as I crossed through the gates leaving Weiss in my dust and headed into the guard's motor pool that contained everything from quad bikes like this through to the 4 wheel drives armed with machine guns and grenade launchers. I parked the bike where I had found it and snuck back out before the guards in charge of running the motor pool tore into me for stealing one of the quad bikes. I saw Weiss waiting outside, the humour and rebellion gone as if it had never existed, however I had gained the knowledge that this girl was more than meets the eye, more than the irritable, bitchy Heiress she is to most people. As I walked by her on my way back to the barracks I nodded knowingly, no words were spoken... none needed to be.

**3 Months Later (8 months before RWBY Vol1 Ep1), Simon's PoV:**

Weiss and I were preparing for our daily duels when we were interrupted by Mr Schnee and Commander Magenta, both looking very serious. "There has been a change of plans for your combat practice today, Weiss on the recommendation of your body guard... I have prepared a special opponent for you to face while the Commander and I watch and evaluate your combat prowess. proceed to the combat arena, Mr Alexander if you'd come with us." Mr Schnee said in his most commanding tone, I turned to Weiss and gave her a thumbs up of encouragement before I turned on my heel and followed Mr Schnee to another room filled with TV screens that showed the combat arena at every possible angle.

It was then I saw what awaited the Heiress... A massive intelligent suit of armour, with a sword several times larger than a person. I looked across to Mr Schnee "When I said she needed more challenging opponents... you really took that seriously didn't you?" I asked questioningly, slightly worried for the Heiress' safety. "When I do something, I do it to the full extent of what I can deliver, no half measures. Also, If my daughter wishes to be a huntress, I will ensure she is the best huntress in all of Remnant, and I will pit her against the most powerful machines that my company can create to test her, if she fails those tests, she will give up this silly notion of being a huntress and take her place at SDC HQ with me." Came Mr Schnee's emotionless reply. _'Right... you don't approve of your daughter's dream so you try to force her to abandon it, then you have the gall to say this was my idea? Yeah.. you're a prick!' _I mentally fumed.

Turning to the screens I saw Weiss enter the combat arena to come face to face with the Giant Armour. I watched on nervously as the armour stood to its full height and raised its sword in preparation to attack, this mech was surprisingly quick with its strikes for something so large, but it didn't match up to Weiss' speed and agility who simply flipped herself to the left and drew her rapier and lunged into attack the mech. landing a hit onto the Armour before briefly twirling and landing. I watch The Giant Armour swing again, but Weiss darts behind her it, landing several slashes on the mech's back as she spins. The Armour responds by swinging its sword horizontally at towards Weiss who manages to block the attack, however the power behind the mech's strike sends the Heiress sliding backwards across the arena. the mech continues its assault on Weiss, sending her flying back a 2nd time.

By now my worry was beginning to grow, Weiss was getting overwhelmed by the ferociously quick attacks of the armour. I looked across to Mr Schnee, who had a small smirk on his face, obviously thinking that this mech was going to beat his daughter and she'd be free to manipulate to his will. _'You are a right royal shit... not even worried about her safety right now are you?' _I thought viciously, bringing my eyes back to the fight I saw Weiss beginning to utilise her glyphs to increase her speed and intensity of her strikes, using the glyphs as aerial springboards to launch several strikes at the armour which caught it off guard. _'heh way to go Snowflake... Show that mech and your dad what you can do' _ I mentally cheered, a small smirk coming to my face... which was quickly wiped off as the Armour landed a massive punch to Weiss' head as she dodged a horizontal slash. Seeing her go careening across the arena and winding up in a slumped heap I felt a lump of fury build up in my throat _'What sort of father subjects their own child to this sort of treatment? Come on Weiss, get up... Show this mech you don't mess with the Heiress' _I saw Weiss clamber up, slightly shaky from the shock of the punch, blood streaming down her face from a large cut across her forehead.

Forcing myself to keep watching rather than rush off to jump into the fight I saw Weiss become even more determined and focused, igniting her rapier a crimson red and met the charging armour's blade, the force of her dust imbued blade causing the armour to stumble backwards.I watch as Weiss twirls and stabs _Myrtenaster_ into the ground, which sends a wave of ice forward. This freezes one of the Armour's feet in place, immobilizing the Armour. The armour then swings at Weiss as she runs forward and leaps up, landing perfectly onto the sword, her rapier glowing yellow, she rolls along the sword and slashes at the armour, destroying the ice crystals and knocking her opponent's weapon away.

I look over to Mr Schnee who was now looking indifferent, probably realising his little scheme to make Weiss lose confidence in her abilities and bend to his will has failed. I smirk triumphantly at seeing Mr Schnee fail at manipulating someone who deserves better than manipulation. Looking back to watch Weiss create a white glyph underneath herself and rotates the revolver once more as the Giant Armour tries to punch downwards at her. However, she evades the attack and causes the glyph on the ground to explode, launching her foe into the air. Weiss then sends six beams of blue energy at the Armour, locking it in midair. With one final glyph-augmented leap into the air, Weiss creates yet another glyph, which she uses to dash at the Giant Armour, cutting right through it. I began cheering and clapping as Weiss lands crouched behind the crumbling armour _'Way to go Weiss, you'll prove your dad wrong yet' _I thought as I signalled for the physician to attend the arena and grabbed the first aid kit before going to see to Weiss' injuries, leaving behind Mr Schnee who was impressed, surprised and furious at the same time.

Entering the arena I saw Weiss still crouching, I could hear her puffing and I saw drops of blood hitting the ground. "Way to go Snowflake, you sure showed that mech who was boss, the physician is on the way to clean that gash up. How are you feeling after that?" I ask as I pull out some disinfected wipes to clean the blood off Weiss' face in order to gauge the size of the cut. "That was by far the most difficult fight I have ever been in, I feel accomplished... glad I beat father's challenge. I won't allow him to derail my dream of being a huntress." Came the determined reply from Weiss. I chuckled at this "You're also going to feel like a freight train hit you tomorrow. That punch was painful just to watch. The physician shouldn't be more than a moment, so just hold still here and catch your breath." I knelt down next to Weiss having finished cleaning the wound, hoping it wouldn't add another scar to the one Weiss already had across her left eye.

"be proud of yourself, you beat something I don't think I would have been able to defeat one on one." I said honestly, knowing that almost all of my combat experience was against soldiers untrained in Aura use, and even when i did fight a trained opponent I was normally in a team and could count on support if I got into trouble, just like against Schwarzer. Weiss looked up to me incredulously, obviously not believing what I was saying, before she could reply however the Physician arrived and promptly shooed me away as he got to work patching up Weiss' face. I turned to exit the arena, shooting a glare the way of Mr Schnee, I had no respect for those who tried to manipulate others into doing their bidding at the cost of their victims own dreams and ambitions, and I resolved to go to hell and back if need be to ensure Weiss didn't get manipulated into going down a dark path as I did by so many including the SSB.

**2 Months Later (6 months before RWBY Vol1 Ep1) Simon's PoV:**

"Remember people, Today is an important garden party for the Schnee Dust Company, so highly polished armour for those on duty on the gates and fences and your best suits for those for roving the party area, keep your weapons concealed and your most polite manners on show. We need to ensure that the representatives from Mistral and the victor of The Mistral Regional Tournament: Miss Pyrrha Nikos codename: _Hoplite. _ Feel very welcome and not at all intimidated. Guardsmen Alexander, you of course will handle _Snowflake's _security throughout the day and into the evening when Weiss gives her singing performance in the town amphitheatre" came Commander Magenta's briefing for the garden party the Mr Schnee was putting on to show off his and Atlesian Arm's latest collaboration in weapons and dust. _'Ugh great, socialising! Dealing with rich people isn't worth finally get to see Weiss sing' _I internally groaned at having to not only deal with upper class snobbery but also wear a suit and not have _Umbra Vigilans _with me while doing so, probably for the best seeing as I'd probably be overly tempted to slice anyone who tried to vent their superiority complexes at me, which I might still do seeing as I'll still have my blade gauntlets on underneath my suit. Though admittedly I was interested in seeing Weiss sing, she practiced during the evenings after I had returned to the barracks so I had never heard her do it before.

After the briefing I walked up to the castle, not exactly in the best mood, crowds disagreed with me big time... hopefully Weiss would keep to the peripheries of the party, though I knew that was almost certainly not going to happen. Upon reaching her door I waited outside as I usually did I pulled at my collar and tie.. having not grown any fonder of suits since the last time I had worn them, I felt as if I was about to get strangled at any moment, not to mention my range of movement was severely restricted in this. Judging from the groans of frustration I could hear from within the door, Weiss was having just as much trouble or she was just nervous I couldn't tell. I looked at my watch _0841, _Weiss had slept in due to it being Sunday and not having those hours of morning tutorials. _'Guests begin arriving about 1030, Why are we getting ready this early...' _I mentally whined as I stood guard outside Weiss' room constantly tugging at my tie and ensuring the cuffs of my suit didn't go over where the blades of my gauntlets eject from should they be needed. I heard the lock click on Weiss' door and I prepared for another day's duty. Out stepped Weiss, for once without _Myrtenaster _and I also noticed her scar was hidden under make up, no doubt at her father's insistence. "Ready for today Snowflake? I asked using her castle guard codename. Weiss twirled around on her heel to face me "Does it look like I' am ready?" came her snappy reply. _'Ok, at least I' am not the only one who won't be enjoying themselves today' _I thought as I saw Weiss looking to become more visibly stressed every moment. "Ok What's up? I thought you'd be used to these sorts of social gatherings?" I voiced curiously.

Weiss Simply sighed and walked away downstairs not responding to my questioning, I rolled my eyes and followed her down stairs towards Mr Schnee's study, where he was to discuss with Weiss his expectations and plans for the day. As we approached the door I saw a female guard in SSB uniform that I recognised from my first day as a Castle Guard, It was Amber Flame.. assigned to protect Winter Schnee. _'Oh shit... family reunion about to go down, this won't end pretty I don't think' _ I thought as I saw the study door open to reveal as I suspected.. none other than Winter Schnee. I saw Weiss visibly tense up at seeing her younger sister for the first time in nearly 6 months. Weiss was beckoned silently into the study and the soundproofed door closed behind her, leaving Amber and I both standing out there, visibly worried about how this was going to go. I looked across to Amber, who by my estimations was early to mid-20's. "So what's the younger sister like? They both seemed nervous about being in there together with their father?" I asked Amber, trying to work out what to expect when that door opens. Amber looked over to me "She is pretty much everything Mr Schnee wanted Weiss, his Heiress to be. Intelligent, easily manipulated, a business orientated mind, has no interest in combat studies unlike your charge." came the reply from the other guard. _'Great... This isn't going to help Snowflake's mood one bit' _ I thought and continued to wait.

It took all of five minutes for Weiss to leave the study, slamming the door behind her and storming off back up stairs to her room. I sighed and nodded to Amber "I'll go and try to sort this out, you try and keep Winter and Mr Schnee out of this for now... it won't help." I said quietly to Amber as I strode after the Heiress. I saw her bedroom door ajar "Weiss, I'am entering... so no impaling me on _Myrtenaster _please" I warned before pushing the door open. I looked around the expansive room, finally finding the Heiress staring out a window, visibly shaking. "What's the matter Weiss? What happened in there?" I asked, genuinely concerned. "It doesn't matter, it isn't anything I haven't been handling perfectly ever since I decided I wanted to be a Huntress." Came Weiss' pained, almost inaudible reply. Rolling my eyes at the her stubbornness I walked up beside her and looked out the window. "If that is 'handling it perfectly' then I'd hate to see what handling it poorly looks like. You can't simply hide everything behind your wall of cold callousness, irritability, bossiness and attempts at perfection. You say this all started because you wanted to be a Huntress, What exactly happened?" I said firmly, not letting this slide. Weiss growled at me "It isn't your concern, never has been and never will be!" She snapped, her hand going to where _Myrtenaster _should have been, only to find it not there due to her not having worn it down stairs.

I shook my head "Weiss, you can't just go and try and make this go away by threatening me with violence. I have lived an extremely violent life so violence no longer phases me. For I have paid a steep physical price, and am now beginning to pay an even steeper psychological toll for what I have done." I replied, my hands going to my facial scars. Weiss' expression softened slightly as I continued "What has got you so worked up about today? You may as well answer because I won't stop hounding you over it until I get my answer and while you maybe stubborn, my stubbornness is on an entirely different level." I said turning to face Weiss, my eyes locked with hers. Weiss' strength to resist failed her. "I hate days like today because I' am forced to act how my father specifies and hide who I truly am in order to fit in with his vision for the Schnee family and our company. Which is why I don't have _Myrtenaster _and why the scar which I see as a badge of pride for protecting my sister is hidden under this disgusting make up, bet you'd never hide your scares like they're an embarrassment." Came Weiss' frustrated reply. _'So your dad wants you to be more like your sister? Make you give up your identity and independence... Yeah I can see why you're pissed' _I thought as I pieced together what Amber had told me and what Weiss had just said, though she was wrong about my scars.

"My scars are reminders of the horrors of what I've done, of what happens when one discards their humanity, their conscience, their independence. I might be able to hide them if I ever chose to, but they are still there as are what they stand for. Just as your scar is still there under that veil of makeup as is the pride it stands for. Your father wants to make you into his little puppet? don't let him... You won't like where it leads." I said gently, trying not to let my own anger escape. Weiss looked intently at my scars, not only the facial ones, but the ones visible on my hands, probably wondering exactly what I've done. "When it comes to the concert tonight: Sing a song of your choosing rather than one your father chose, and get rid of the makeup hiding the scar show it for all to see. Small things like that, just to show him you are your own person... not his puppet." I suggested, knowing It'd probably cause a shit storm, but not really caring for what Mr Schnee thinks.

Weiss nodded slowly, agreeing with my course of action "Ok, I think I can do that... play it by his rules at the garden party but tonight I rebel." I saw a small smirk come over her face, which was quickly replaced by one of worried curiosity "What did you mean when you said I wouldn't like where I'd be led to if I let my father manipulate and mould me?" This line of questioning caught me off guard "Umm, that discussion can wait until another time... trust me it is one that will take a long while to go through. Now we should head back down stairs, your father and sister would be waiting." I said heading out of the room, my head swimming with hatred towards the SDC, The Fist, Roman.. but mostly at myself. I heard Weiss following me and I could almost feel her eyes burning into my soul... what was left of it anyway. I ignored it and just kept walking down the stairs, my face set into an impassive expression. I looked at my watch _0957\. 'Ok about 30 minutes until the first guests arrive, ugh this is going to be such a bloody long day.' _ I thought as Weiss re-entered her father's study. Amber looked over to me in amazement "Ok, do I even want to know how you managed to convince her to go back in there?" I chuckled lightly, knowing full well the shit storm that was brewing "No you do not, but you'll find out soon enough." I replied flatly, not wanting to hint at what Weiss was going to do.

10 minutes later after the Schnee family had emerged from the study and Mr Schnee had left to go inspect the party area, to ensure it was up to his expectations the Schnee sisters proceeded out to another one of the castle gardens, this one filled with White Roses in order to have some sister time. Amber and I kept our distance, deciding to let the sisters have their privacy. "You know they really love each other, but their father keeps trying to play them off against each other, wedge them apart... sad thing is it works at times" Amber said out of the blue, disgust evident in her voice. I turned to Amber in surprise, surprised that I wasn't the only one here who didn't agree with Mr Schnee's attempts at parenting. "Weiss doesn't speak much to me... So I don't really know anything of her relationship with her sister." I replied, kinda embarrassed I hadn't tried harder to learn more about the Heiress, not bothering for months to look further than the surface. "Well Winter is much more open with her emotions than Weiss is, we've had many discussions about her family and the way Mr Schnee is trying to make Weiss bend to his vision for her and how Winter is vehemently against it." Amber continued on, staring out towards the sisters who were deep in conversation.

"Well I've decided to ensure that Weiss doesn't bend to his will and manipulations... I've seen the dark side of the SDC and I don't think it would damage Weiss mentally to have anything to do with those things." I replied determinedly. Amber turned to look at me "That makes it sound as though you're helping the Heiress for your own personal redemption for the things you've done rather than genuinely looking after her interests." came the accusing reply. I knew that Amber was correct, I was engaging in this mini war against Mr Schnee to spite him for his slavery practices which I took part in, which my conscience made me suffer for every time i closed my eyes. purely selfish reasons that just happened to have a selfless outcome. I didn't reply, merely shrugging and checking the time _1026, _turning to Amber "It is time to get them out to the party area, guests will be arriving momentarily." I said flatly, not even bothering to hide the fact I was only saying this to get out of discussing my own emotions and past. I strode into the garden and when the sisters looked at me, looking slightly cross that I had intruded their limited sister time I merely tapped my watch to get my message across before turning on my heel and walking out, not a single word spoken.

The garden party went about as smoothly as I could expect, spending the best part of 6 hours resisting the urge to go on a killing spree after being treated like a mere servant and drink fetcher rather than the skilled combatant and bodyguard I was by egotistical old rich people with superiority complexes. Only Weiss, Winter and the surprisingly humble Pyrrha Nikos treated me as an equal and did their best to keep me out of the sights of the more hostile party guests. Needless to say I was glad when 4:30pm struck and the guests began leaving to go and prepare for tonight's singing performances, headlined of course by Weiss. I made my way backstage as Weiss was preparing, just to make sure she was ok and to find out if she was still going through with the plan. I knocked on her change room door "Weiss, It's Simon. May I enter?" I asked politely. upon hearing a call of approval from the Heiress I entered, to see Weiss in her usual outfit of a White blue bolero jacket over a similarly coloured thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress, but this time she had no makeup on, the scar over her left eye on show for all to see, which in my opinion only enhanced her beauty... it was anything but an embarrassment. "You ready? you're up next I think." I said simply, hoping I'll have enough time to get back to my vantage point overlooking the crowd to watch Mr Schnee rage at seeing his daughter upstage his plans. "Yeah, I' am ready. Also Simon, thank-you so much for everything." came Weiss' reply, genuine appreciation in it. This made me freeze, It had actually been a very long time since anyone showed genuine appreciation for anything I had done for them. "You're welcome Weiss. I'll leave you to get ready... good luck and blow them away." I said quickly exiting the room.

I managed to get to my look out post just as the previous singer was leaving the stage I had gotten a hold of a set of binoculars and found Mr Schnee in the crowd sitting with Winter, I smirked with anticipation at seeing his reaction when Weiss sings the song of her choice. I heard the announcers welcome Weiss out onto the stage. I heard a piano begin playing softly and slowly and then came the lyrics, softly almost angel like, it was the most beautiful voice I'd ever heard:  
_**Mirror, tell me something,  
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?**__  
_I saw Mr Schnee's face change from one of anticipation to confusion to pure fury all in the space of a few seconds, which pleased me greatly _'that's right Mr Schnee... Weiss doesn't play by your rules anymore'_ I thought triumphantly._  
__**Mirror, tell me something,  
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?  
Fear of what's inside of me,  
Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?  
**_As I heard this I turned my head from Mr Schnee to Weiss singing on stage, my heart beginning to ache, realising just how broken inside Weiss was, just how fragile her outer facade was.. just how fragile mine was._**  
Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?  
Save me from the things I see!  
I can keep it from the world,  
Why won't you let me hide from me?  
**__'If only you could hide from yourself Weiss... I tried, and I failed' _I thought as I felt the hot tears begin to roll down my cheeks for the first time in what seemed like years, I felt every little crack in my emotional armour become a gaping hole through which raw pent up emotion that I had been hiding from ever since my injury came flowing._**  
Mirror, mirror, tell me something,  
Who's the loneliest of all?**_

_**I'm the loneliest of all**_

By this time every bit of emotional armour I wore was in shambles and I retreated from my secluded overwatch position into the nearest bathroom to wash my face and try and regain my composure before anyone saw me. After basically drowning myself in the basin I looked myself in the mirror, I looked into my eyes and saw just how distant and empty yet also how full they were, empty of emotion and happiness but full of painful memories of kids being hauled off to the SSB, Faunus meeting my blades or my guns, the photo of Blake that sat deep in my field pack. At the mere thought of that poor orphaned girl I smashed my gauntleted hand into the mirror, smashing it to pieces, but my anger, my hurt and my fear weren't done yet, I continued to smash the wall, leaving large cracks and holes in it. Finally my emotions spent I managed to reign back control and rearranged myself so I looked presentable before heading back stage once more. I reached Weiss' change room and knocked on the door "We-Weis are you in there?" I managed to choke out. I heard footsteps come up to the other side of the door "Can you come back later Simon, I-I just need a moment alone." Came the choked up reply. _'Guess we're both only holding ourselves together by a thread.' _I thought as I leaned against the door, using all my concentration to etch my usual impassive, unreadable look over my face.

Several silent minutes passed, I knew Weiss was right on the other side of the door due to the choked sobs that sometimes escaped now and again. Over and over I replayed scenes in my head of the things I had done.. what disgusted me more than actually doing those things was the lack of empathy, remorse or regret I had felt at the time for what I had done, which I was only feeling now, months if not years later... way too late to make amends, all I could do was ensure that others didn't follow the path who did and protect those who were targeted by those who did go down that dark path. Eventually the door unlocked and out came Weiss who looked like she had been to hell and back, but was now composed and ready to face her father. "When you confront him I'll be nearby, just remember you aren't alone in this Snowflake" I whispered as I saw Winter and Mr Schnee coming backstage, the later of the two looking positively furious. "We will discuss tonight's events when we return home, now please make your way to the limo." Came the seething command from Mr Schnee. Weiss nodded and fell in obediently behind her father, turning back to me I gave her a thumbs up and a supportive nod before I made my way out towards the guard vehicles to make my way back, I'll have to see how the 'discussion' went tomorrow morning when I planned to give Weiss my journal... let her judge for herself her companies and my actions.

**The Next Day: Simon's PoV:**

I spent all the previous night putting the finishing touches on my journal including a letter for Weiss, So I was extremely dependant on caffeine this morning, which did not leave me in a very good mood... so Magenta was lucky she refrained from trying to chew me out or even speak to me. As I walked to the castle I had my journal and letter hidden in a satchel that went with my armour. I met Weiss as usual, she looked very stressed, but had a quiet confidence about her that hadn't been present before especially when her father was at the estate. _'Guess she came off on top during last night's discussion then.' _ I thought as I followed her to her morning tutorials, during which I slipped out of the room and placed the journal and letter on her bed before slipping back into the tutorial. I felt a massive weight come off me... I felt guilt gush away now that I ensured that the horrid deeds of the SDC, Atlesian Arms, The White Fang, The Black Fist and of myself will be laid out to bare. I was ready and willing to face atonement for my actions, to be judged for them. I may never be able to forgive myself entirely for what I had done in the Fist, but slowly I was coming to terms with it.

**That Night: Weiss' PoV:**

As I retired to my room after the days classes to prepare for my daily singing lessons, I worried slightly for Simon. Something had been eating at him for some time and it was beginning to affect his mood and his ability in combat, for today I beat him in every duel we fought during our training which is something that had not happened before. Despite the fact he always made inappropriate remarks and had an infuriating tendency to call me _Snowflake. _He had earned my respect as a combatant, my trust as a bodyguard and my care as a friend, three things I didn't give lightly. As I entered my room I saw an unfamiliar journal and a letter accompanying it. I looked curiously at it and picked up the letter:

_To Snowflake_

_For months I have hidden from what I had become, from what I had done. But no more will I hide and no more shall I run from my past. Enclosed in my journal is a full account of my operations with the Black Fist including missions done under orders of the SDC Special Security Bureau (SSB). I give you access to these files because you need to know what happens when you allow others to manipulate them. Your father may not be a bad man at heart... but the actions of his company done with or without his knowledge are reprehensible, and I was a part of those actions. I hope you are able to read these files and be the better person in all of this and ensure when you one day take over the SDC you are able to make amends for these actions and ensure that another generation of people aren't destroyed by the conflicts and practices that the SSB are infamous for._

_-Simon_

_P.s: The code word for the Journal's lock is "Gastropod"_

I looked to the Journal, not entirely sure I wanted to know in detail what the SSB had done, or what Simon had done for that matter... I knew that the SSB and my body guard had operated in some very morally grey areas but I had never found out specifics. I drew in a breath, knowing I was about to find out things that my father went to great lengths to keep hidden. I opened up the journal and began to read, as I read I came to realise exactly how large a burden that Simon had shouldered... While I couldn't condone the things he did, I understood them and it really put into context why he didn't want to see me simply give up and me moulded or manipulated by my father into an Heiress who will just continue his methods and practices, even if I didn't want to believe what I was reading. I knew that below the front he put up to everyone, including me was a small child who didn't understand what had happened to him and just wanted to make the pain and the memories go away. I resolved to help him as best I could, it was the least I could do for the help he was giving me.

**A/N: **I hope you all are ok after reading this... It kinda hit me in a soft spot a couple times writing this. This is probably the most emotional piece of writing I have ever written and I hope I did a good job of fleshing out both Simon and Weiss with regards to their mental and emotional fragilities from what their lives have subjected them to. I know these chapters are crazy long... but deep emotional writing tends to chew up words pretty quick. Thankfully the chapters to come are substantially shorter. As always I appreciate any feedback that people have... especially advice on writing main characters such as Weiss or any other comments or questions that you all may have... I' am only too happy to answer. -CC Signing off


	18. New Beginnings

**A/N:** A quick reminder that the first chapter of the sequel will be uploaded immediately after this chapter is uploaded, so there is 0 wait between finishing this and being able to see Simon and Weiss arrive at Beacon. -CC

**Chapter 18: New Beginnings. Simon's PoV:**

It was Sunday today and I had decided to take a day off, Weiss could survive one day without me and to be honest I needed the time alone, in the week since I had given her my journal I had felt the burning, judgemental gazes burning through me from the Heiress, but she never said a single word about it whatsoever which unnerved me even more than having her say straight up her opinions. I had tried to decipher her thoughts and feelings towards the contents of my journal but the Heiress had been impassive, unreadable and it had driven around the bend, so here I was laying beneath a tree in a secluded corner of the castle grounds trying to calm myself down and work out my next course of action, but I ended up dozing off in the summer sun, strangely for once not being assaulted by nightmarish memories. I was jolted from my dozing by a weight hitting my chest, opening my eyes I saw my journal had been dumped onto me and a very disgruntled Weiss standing over me. "Where have you been? you didn't report to your post this morning, such slackness!" The Heiress berated me. I sat up and leaned against the tree "I just needed a day off to process things in my mind, try and make sense of where I' am and where I want to go... I have no intention of staying in your companies service after my services as your body guard are needed." I replied candidly, not caring to keep secrets or lie.

"Well I needed to talk to you, but I guess here is probably a better place to do so away from prying ears or eyes. I read your journal from cover to cover... It was painful to say the least, I know you're coming apart with guilt and remorse for what you've done. I want you to know I don't hold what you've done against you one bit... You were young and scared and just wanted to live, so you didn't think... you obeyed. You are a good person though... the fact you show remorse and regret is proof of that. We both have inner demons and fragilities... you've been here for me so now I'll be here for you so you no longer need to hide from your feelings. Now for the love of dust, please drag your sorry self out of the dark pit you've thrown yourself in: it is affecting your combat skills and makes you an even less pleasant to be around than you already are." Came Weiss' attempt at light hearted admonishment to try and kick me back into my usual smartass attitude. I couldn't help but smirk at seeing the pitiful attempts at humour Weiss undertook for me "I' am very pleasant company... it just isn't my fault if you can't appreciate my sense of humour." I replied, weakly chuckling, my mind slowly processing the fact that for the first time since I had been at the police station in Vale someone had offered to support me emotionally and help put me back together, no one in the Fist supported each other psychologically or emotionally.. you were to deal with your own mind on your own and hide your pain behind bravado and humour when amongst your fellow troops just like Shauno, Kale, Gregory and myself always did.

I dragged myself up, and faced the Heiress a small smile creeping across my face from the immense gift that Weiss had bestowed upon me. Acting on absolute impulse and an overflow of appreciation to Weiss I lunged forward and enveloped her in a bear hug. "Thank-you Weiss, that means the world to me!" I whispered. I heard a muffled squeal from the Heiress who hadn't been expecting such a display of appreciation from me due to neither of us really being the hugging type. "Simon what are you doing? This is both highly inappropriate and you're crushing my ribs!" Weiss said, not sounding to happy at the sudden embrace. I regained my senses and slowly let go, both of us slightly blushing due to the fact neither of us really had been hugged a lot in our lives. "Ok, I'll let you get away with that one, just don't do it again. Now what becomes of this Journal?" Weiss asked, looking down at the book laying in the grass. "I'll be keeping it, that is my redemption, my way to wipe my slate clean." I replied taking back the journal and placing it in my uniforms satchel. "Right, now that's settled... How about some lunch before we get into our combat training for today, you haven't been trying very hard in the last week and it irks me to beat you so easily, doesn't feel like real victory." Weiss moaned at having been pretty much using me as a training dummy for the last week. At this I chuckled "Oh you want a challenge? Right, well I'll be visiting the armoury and getting some extra goodies to toss your way Snowflake." I replied, my sense of competitiveness coming back as my mood improved _'I really did need that hug, the Heiress really is kinda like a teddy' _I thought humorously as I followed Weiss towards the dining room for a light lunch, because nothing was more bloody annoying than fighting on a stomach after a heavy meal.

Upon reaching the kitchen I grabbed a plate of chicken sandwiches and stood in the kitchens near a TV and flicked the channel in order to find something on the battles between Ironwood's Division, the White Fang and the Black Fist. Finding one I stopped changing channels and watched, ignoring the bitching from the kitchen staff who had been watching the sports channel.

_The latest reports from the Atlesian Highlands are not good: Despite being able to break up the majority of the Black Fist's 6 large regimental formations, the human supremacist organisation seems to have adopted the same tactics of the White Fang in utilising small 30-50 man sized units fully autonomous of any higher command supported by the human populace in their Area. This has led to a massive spate of roadside bombings, sniper attacks and raids on military armouries among Major General Ironwood's 1st Armoured Division "Old Ironsides". There are also reports that teams of elite Black Fist operatives may have made their way into the other kingdoms to combat the White Fang all across Remnant. This is a severe setback from the news a few months ago that more than 750 members of the Black Fist have deserted their posts and gone into hiding and that the end of the Black Fist was in sight. The White Fang during all of this has been raiding SDC and Atlesian Arms more and more frequently, only this morning the bodies of 3 SDC board members and their families have been found butchered in their homes by White Fang assassins..." _

I switched the TV off, things weren't going well. While Major General Ironwood and his troops and the Black Fist were tearing each other apart, the White Fang was operating with almost impunity and was only getting bolder. _'What in the fuck is the SSB doing to stop this?' _I mentally fumed as I exited the kitchen and re entered the dining area where Weiss sat alone reading one of her textbooks. stood over in a corner, not really wanting to disturb her. I flexed my hands in my gauntlets, ensuring I was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice should anything at all threaten the Heiress. "Ok Simon, I'll meet you in the arena, go grab whatever it was you were going to from the armoury and I'll meet you there." Came Weiss' voice piercing my inner thoughts, I snapped my head to her and smirked "alright Snowflake, prepare to get blown away." I replied and walked away, ignoring Weiss' rant that I started by continuing to call her _Snowflake_. I stopped by my room and changed into my Black Fist forest camo uniform complete with helmet and its accompanying webbing and lightweight plate armour before heading to the armoury and filling as many dust grenades into the pouches on the webbing as I could _'Oh you're really going to get blown away Weiss, you've had it easy this week.' _ I thought chuckling as I made my way to the arena to find Weiss already waiting _Myrtenaster _drawn and pointed towards me I saw her expression change to one of curiosity at seeing me in my full combat uniform rather than just parts of it like I normally did.

"Ready to actually give it your all today and to give me a challenge?" Weiss questioned cockily. I didn't answer, instead I simply reached both my hands into a pouch and withdrew 2 grenades, pulling the pins I pelted Weiss with both of them. The explosives being lobbed towards her caught the Heiress off guard, causing her to flip out of the way as I continued to toss grenades at her, forcing her towards a corner. After I emptied out the first two pouches I withdrew _Umbra Vigilans _and unleashed a hail of Flechettes towards Weiss as I advanced on her, unleashing bursts of fire every few steps as I closed in on the still shell shocked Heiress. I felt the magazine on my weapon empty, I loaded another one from my bandolier and extended the blades to charge in on Weiss, who had been caught out by my change in tactics. She tried to trap me in ice but I dodged it easily, I felt my muscles regaining their old edge and reflexes and my senses sharpened to where they had been on missions with Rum Squad. I charged in quicker than I had been capable of for months and used my staff like a pole vault to flip over Weiss and launch a kick into the back of her knees using the steel cap of my combat boot, her legs buckled and I whirled around and smacked Weiss over the head with my staff to signify a killing blow. I flourished my staff and replaced it to its holder across my back.

"Did you really need to smack me that hard?" Came Weiss whine as she rubbed the sore spot on her head. I laughed at the Heiress "Yes I did, you been smacking me around mercilessly for the last week, I merely decided to return the favour" I managed to reply in between laughs. Weiss looked me up and down in my uniform and shook her head "Why do you keep wearing that gear after all you've done in the organisation that uniform represents? Why not make your own customised combat gear like I did?" Weiss said motioning to her attire. I rolled my eyes at this suggestion "Several reason's Snowflake: I don't associate my uniform with the Black Fist so long as the unit patches I was given to identify myself aren't on there. Besides it has a certain intimidation factor that your outfit doesn't.. I want to scare people, not make a fashion statement." I replied, my old smartass attitude slowly returning. Weiss scowled "Hey, this is not a fashion statement... not entirely anyway!" Weiss retorted defensively. I rolled my eyes again and made my way back over to my starting position and redrew my weapon "Go again?" I said, a competitive glint in my eyes.

**3 Months Later (3 Months before RWBY Vol1 Ep1), Simon's PoV:**

In the last few months Weiss and I's training regime had stepped up significantly, in 1 month representatives from Beacon academy would be here to evaluate Weiss' skill as a combatant and decide whether she was worthy of a spot in the academy, I on the other hand had been organising passage to Vacuo in order to link up with some contacts Kruger had made in the Vacuo militia who had offered me a spot in their Long Range Desert Raider Squadron that fought out in the deserts against dust bandits and outlaws, as well as Grimm. so it was once more unto the breach for me once my tenure as Weiss body guard was up and I had to get my knee in peak condition. Weiss and I had been working on unarmed combat lately, and too be honest, Weiss sucked at it, she may have been agile, but if she got pinned she had nowhere near the strength required to break out of the many chokeholds, head locks, arm bars, leg locks and various other manoeuvres I executed on her. Granted sometimes she could summon glyphs or get a lucky nut shot on me and escape, but it wasn't often. "Ok, enough for tonight Snowflake, I think you're in desperate need of some rest and a cleanup." I said rolling away from the leg lock I had locked the Heiress into. We had been at this for several hours with only short breaks and I was feeling the strain, so no doubt Weiss who had much less endurance than I did was just about ready to keel over. "I think that's a good Idea Simon, I could certainly use the rest." The heiress replied as she dragged herself to her feet without any grace whatsoever.

As we left the arena and made our way to the castle I knew that Mr Schnee was back at the estate for some R&amp;R after having to attend several funerals for more board members and friends (if the cranky old bastard had any) who had been killed during the escalating violence against the over bolder White Fang. the SSB had been hitting the Fang hard when it could find them but more often than not just hit Faunus civilian settlements in retribution attacks. Mr Schnee was in no doubt in a foul mood from the destruction and loss of profits his company was taking due to this war, so instead of parting ways with the Heiress I followed here up to the castle, my gut instinct told me I was going to be needed. Upon reaching the castle I stood with the night watchmen who I recognised as supporting the same ARL team as me, so i stood with him a while and chatted about the latest scores and recruitment by the team while Weiss went inside. We had been standing outside talking for about 45 minutes when I heard it, the sounds of drunken yelling and a glass smashing I looked to the guard and we both bolted inside to the living area where Weiss was huddled in a corner as her father yelled "YOU THINK THIS IS EASY... I' AM TRYING TO RUN A COMPANY AND ENSURE YOU'RE FIT TO LEAD IT... AND HERE YOU ARE WANTING TO THROW IT ALL AWAY FOR SOME ROMANTIC IDEA THAT YOU CAN FIX THE WORLD WITH THAT TOY SWORD YOU TOUT AROUND!" I entered the room just as Mr Schnee throw a crystal tumbler at my charge. I put myself between Weiss and her father, raising my gauntleted hand to block the glass.

"Guards restrain this man! No one gets between me and my children when I' am with them." Mr Schnee growled angrily. I extended my gauntlet's blades "Any man who tries to restrain me dies... and I can cut you all down before you've pumped enough bullets in me to penetrate my Aura. Mr Schnee you take one step closer and I'll pound you to a bloody pulp, no one... not even you harms my charge, she may not defend herself against you but I certainly will... to hell with what you could possibly do to me!" I growled, my Gauntlets blades ready to strike at a moment's notice. "You know you've just signed your own death mark Simon... all it takes is the word from me and nothing can save you!" The drunk Schnee threatened. I laughed right in his face "Death does not scare me and neither do you... If you kill me then I'll welcome death as an old friend, a mercy of sorts for me. But I won't allow you to cause any harm to your daughter, not just for her sake but for yours. You might be a lot of unsavoury things but an abusive father certainly isn't one of them... you'll thank me for this when you're sober, even if I' am dead by then." I said defiantly and took up a boxing stance, blades at the ready. Mr Schnee growled and let loose with another crystal tumbler at me, which I blocked with a gauntlet before storming out of the room ranting and raving about "insubordinate servants and ungrateful daughters." I looked to the other guards who all nodded to me before returning to their posts, a silent accord was reached that I had done what the others all wanted to do but couldn't for one reason or another and they would ensure no harm came to me should Mr Schnee decided to try and end me.

I retracted my gauntlet's blades and turned on my heel to face Weiss, who was still curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, still looking terrified of her father. Our eyes met and I simply nodded to her before holding my hand out to help her up and I escorted her up to her room "I'll be right outside if you need me tonight, I'll make sure your father doesn't disturb you until he is sober." I whispered softly before I closed the door allowing the Heiress some privacy. It was a long night for me, made slightly easier by the coffee brought to me every now and then by other guardsmen who also offered to take over my vigil so I could rest my exhausted frame which I refused, this was a matter of principle for me and I was determined to see it through, to for once do something entirely selfless in protection of another rather than to selfishly destroy others lives. By morning I was dead on my feet, even coffee wasn't energizing me at this point, I heard Weiss stir inside the room _'Ugh now to just get through today and I can sleep, hopefully Weiss lets me skip out on combat today.' _I thought as I saw Commander Magenta and several castle guards and SSB agents who hadn't witnessed last night's events coming up the stairs _'Ok, forget sleep... looks like things are about to get hectic' _I faced the oncoming group and withdrew my battle staff "If we're going to rumble, I suggest somewhere away from the Heiress... she doesn't need to see or hear what comes." I said deadpanned as I set _Umbra Vigilans _to its gun setting. The guards and agents readied their weapons but Magenta held up a hand, "We aren't here to kill you if that's what you're thinking... Mr Schnee would like to see you, however you will need to be disarmed.. and that includes the gauntlets and the 4-inch flick blade in your boot you walking arsenal." Magenta ordered determinedly, for once actually ensuring I was completely disarmed... which made me extremely edgy but I complied nonetheless.

Upon reaching Mr Schnee's study I was let in, I saw a very ashamed looking Mr Schnee who could barely look me in the eye "I'd like to apologise for my conduct last night... I was completely out of line and you were right to put yourself between Weiss and myself." Mr Schnee said, shame dripping in his voice. I honestly had no idea how to react... here I had the most powerful man in Remnant essentially grovelling for my forgiveness. "I do love my daughters, but after the losses of the past months against what's left of the White Fang... I just snapped, and Weiss just happened to be the first person I saw to vent at. What in your opinion should be my way to recompense for what has transpired?" Mr Schnee continued. _'Wow he wants my opinion on this? he really must feel shitty about this.' _I thought as I decided what to say in reply. "If you want my honest opinion... let Weiss pursue her dream of being a huntress without you trying to derail it, she is a gifted combatant and that gift is wasted if she spends her life in a boardroom. Also, keep your distance... let her come to you when she is ready to forgive you." I said flatly, without emotion to the old Schnee patriarch. Mr Schnee nodded slowly, agreeing with my entirely reasonable solution. "Also, do not fear of being slaughtered in your sleep... I' am sober now and realise you were right and I was wrong, that is all Mr Alexander." Mr Schnee said, dismissing me. I exited the room, satisfied with the outcome and returned to my post just in time for Weiss to emerge, looking immaculately perfect as ever except for the distressed look upon her face, which disappeared once she saw me "Well at least my father didn't follow through on his threats against you." She said, obviously relieved that I hadn't met my doom for standing up for her. "I just finished a very productive discussion with him... you now shall have no more attempts to derail your entry into Beacon, so long as you keep up your training regime you'll be fine." I said, stifling a yawn but failing. Weiss rolled her eyes "Go get some sleep you fool... you're useless as a training partner if you're running on empty." I nodded in agreement "Yes ma'am, I'll meet you in the arena this afternoon... be ready, it is more unarmed combat until you're able to break every lock I execute." I said eagerly before retiring to my quarters for some very much needed rest.

**1 Month Later (2 Months before RWBY Vol1 ep1), Simon's PoV:**

"You ready Snowflake? All your training and hard work pays off today... Now let's Show these Beacon reps exactly what it takes to be a huntress." I said encouragingly as I followed the Heiress out to meet the representatives from Beacon. One was a bespectacled a middle-aged man with tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes in a green suit and scarf, walking with the support of a cane. The other was a middle aged blonde woman in a purple cape carrying a scroll and a riding crop of all things. "Weiss Schnee I presume?" The woman asked in a severe, business like tone. Weiss nodded "Yes I' am Weiss, and you must be professor Goodwitch, deputy headmistress of Beacon?" Weiss replied courteously. I kept a few metres back during the introductions, but I couldn't help but notice the curious glances I received from the male, Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon as the introductions were made.

Weiss led us all to the arena and she took her place in the middle, waiting for whatever challenges the professors decided to set her, I waited in a shadowy corner as a spectator. "Miss Schnee, why don't you show us your combat skills against your body guard." Professor Ozpin suggested, his tone and facial expression unreadable. I looked to the older man curiously _'What the hell is this guy playing at?' _I thought as I acquiesced to his request and took my place opposite Weiss, a grenade in each hand from my pouches. "Don't expect me to let you win Weiss, you're going to work hard if you want to beat me today" I said, egging the Heiress into action, She brought up a speed glyph and charged at me, I pulled the pins on the grenades and dropped them at my feet before lunging away from the explosives. Weiss tried to dodge but the speed of her glyph sent her straight into the path of the grenades, she managed to punt one towards me but used her aura to absorb the blast of the other. I rolled out of the way of the other grenade that had been punted towards me before drawing my staff and setting it to its gun mode unleashing dozens of deadly flechette rounds towards the Heiress who was using glyphs to jump around the arena dodging my rounds.

As I expended the last of my magazine I loaded and another one and extended my blades, "Come on Snowflake, Bring it!" I yelled Charging the Heiress, treating this not as a friendly sparing match but as combat, potentially to the death. I charged the Heiress, my staff trailing behind me to bring forward in a devastating slash as I got in range of the Heiress. As I slashed my blade was met by that of _Myrtenaster._ I knew I was both stronger and had longer endurance than Weiss, but she was much more agile especially with the glyphs, so I knew to just draw the match out as long as possible. Weiss and I traded several blows until Weiss managed to get above me with a glyph and launch a kick into the top of my head that sent me reeling _'Oh that was not cool' _I mentally fumed before charging back in, unleashing the full force of my aura to overwhelm Weiss' and push her back towards the corner. As I charged in to try and disarm her, Weiss sped away with her glyphs and unleashed ice attacks towards me and ignited her blade with yellow dust and charged back in, bouncing off several glyphs and landing punishing strikes to me. I set off my time distorting Semblance, slowing the speeding Heiress down, even if only for a moment. But a moment was all I needed as I positioned myself for and landed a massive kick to the Heiress' abdomen as time sped back up which, the force of which was added to as she sped in the direction my foot was coming.

Weiss was sent flying but managed to land on her feet, her face set in a determined look as she summoned several glyphs and shot them towards me, I knew these would restrain me if they hit so I attempted to dodge, unfortunately 2 out of the 5 managed to hit me: around my neck and my dominant left arm which held my weapon. I reached with my free hand to the pouches on my webbing and began tossing every grenade I had to force the heiress to keep her distance , to no avail as she got behind me and held the very sharp point of _Myrtenaster _into the back of my neck. "I win" she whispered simply as she deactivated the glyphs holding me in place. I collapsed my weapon and placed it back into its holder "Good match, you utilised your glyphs a lot more than normal... good work." I congratulated the Heiress, certain that such a combat display had guaranteed her a place in Beacon. I looked over to the professors to see the woman, miss Goodwitch making notes on her scroll, her face unreadably serious, however the headmaster, Ozpin had a curious smirk upon his face as he walked over towards us. "An excellent match Miss Schnee, I can see that you have worked extremely hard at your combat style and use of your semblance a credit to both you and your training partner... I' am sure Miss Goodwitch would agree that you'll make a fine addition to Beacon's Cohort." Ozpin commended Weiss, his tone not giving much away apart from a slight tinge of satisfaction at the display.

Ozpin turned towards his assistant "Glynda, would you mind conducting the interview for Miss Schnee, I would like a word with the young man here." Ozpin said flatly, a curious smirk across his face which both disarmed me and put me on guard. "Come sit with me young man" Ozpin asked of me as Glynda and Weiss exited to conduct Weiss interview. "You have turned up in the most unexpected places Simon Alexander, are you aware just how many man hours and resources had been put into finding you?" Ozpin asked, his tone still giving away nothing. The use of my name caused my jaw to drop "How in Remnant do you know who I' am?" I asked, shocked that he knew who I was. "I' am a man of many sources, I found out about you being here several months ago, which is why I made the trip up to Atlas personally... it isn't every day that you get to meet someone whose been dead for 5 years." came the slightly humorous reply. I was still very put out by this revelation. "Well why come and see me? I' am not worth making the trip." I asked, wondering exactly where this was going. Ozpin stared intently at my uniform and equipment "Well during my digging I came up with some very interesting information, 10 months in service as Miss Schnee's personal body guard, proceeded by 6 months in a hospital and before that nearly 3 and a half years in the Black Fist terror group receiving extensive training and combat experience with a double bladed gun staff named _Vindex Umbra. _You seem to have lived a very colourful yet violent existence while on the run, but I think it is time for you to return home." Ozpin replied, still giving away absolutely nothing.

I shook my head at this "I have no home Ozpin, and I have already made plans for when Weiss leaves my protection." I was getting very tired of this conversation. But Ozpin persisted "Your home is in Vale, no matter how far you run, be it to The Black fist, the White Castle Guards or the Desert Raiders in Vacuo.. you'll never find the closure you seek for what you've done until you return to Vale, return to Exton and come full circle. We all have made mistakes, done things we regret... but you can't run from them, not forever as you're trying to do." Ozpin shot back, his tone gentle but still firm. My eyes went wide with fury and my fists clenched, but I held my anger in. "Ok Ozpin, what would you suggest I do then to help atone for my past?" I asked, actually curious to what this man wanted. Ozpin smirk became slightly larger. "Come to my school. Learn how to become a true huntsman and use your obvious talents for the good of both humanity and Faunus kind, to protect those who are oppressed or threatened in this world, maybe you'll find the answers you seek on how to go forward by no longer being a long dead shadow." Ozpin finally made his pitch.

_'Me a Huntsmen? Well I've heard worse Ideas... but going back to Vale? Can I handle that shock?' _My mind was swimming with so many ideas and 'what ifs' it gave me an almost instant headache, but I knew it was either that or going back into the fray as a soldier... and I knew deep down I certainly wasn't ready to be thrown back into another war. I looked up to Ozpin "Ok, you want me to attend this academy of yours... I can do that, it's better than my other option of being a Vacuo Desert Raider." I accepted the proposal to which Ozpin smiled "I look forward to seeing you attend my academy, I' am sure your training partner will be able to fill you in on most of the details of what will be required." Ozpin said before standing and exiting the arena, no doubt to go and speak with Weiss. I was left sitting in the arena alone _'Vale... It's been so damned long. Wonder if anyone from Exton will even recognise me? What would they think if they ever found out what I've done... What Would Velvet think?' _My mind agonised over this, especially having to eventually confront my old bunny eared friend. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't even notice Weiss re-enter the arena.

"Simon, Professor Ozpin just informed me that he has extended offers to attend Beacon to the both of us. Congratulations are in order I think, you've been accepted into the top academy in all of Remnant!" Weiss said happily as she began to list off its academic and training qualities and facilities. "Weiss, please... stop. It is more than that to me, Vale is where I came from... I had never thought of returning there. To be quite honest I' am scared to go back, the academy is an opportunity to break the shackles of my past, but it also means I may run into people from my past and I don't know if they'll accept me if they ever find out what I've done." I managed to say as I began hyperventilating. Weiss merely looked on before sitting beside me, resting a hand on my shoulder. "Simon, no need to be scared, you won't be there alone... you'll have me there if things ever get overwhelming for you. Now come on, now that I've farewelled the professors lets go grab some lunch, I've got a lot of information on Beacon to give you so that you're prepared." With that began 2 months of intense training and preparation, especially for me seeing as I wasn't really prepared for this eventuality.

**2 Months Later: On Private Schnee Airship heading to Beacon. Simon's PoV:**

I sat back in the luxury leather seat next to Weiss, trying to get some sleep on the flight, but my fear and hatred of flying and heights had me continuously squirming around and fidgeting nervously. "Simon, what is up with you? you have been acting very strangely all trip." Weiss said I turned to face my friend and sighed "I' am not the best flier, years of turbulent trips on Black Fist Bullheads, many times coming under fire has left me with a severe hatred of flying and heights, but I think I'll be calmer now, this airship is certainly comfier and smoother than a Bullhead to fly in." I replied chuckling as I once again shifted position to try and get comfortable. I felt Weiss jab at my shoulder "I haven't seen that on your uniform before?" Weiss asked, just noticing the new shoulder patches consisting of a silhouette of my gun staff standing vertically and my bladed gauntlets crossed diagonally over it that I'd attached to the Velcro tabs on my sleeves. I looked at it and shrugged "Well doing some research, turns out most if not all hunters seem to have some sort of symbol I decided to make one for myself. Now I' am going to try and get some sleep, so I' am not constantly fretting about crashing, wake me up about 30 minutes before we land if you can Weiss." I rolled back onto my side and slowly drifted off _'A whole new beginning awaits me... hopefully this time I can make something worthwhile of myself away from the Fist.' _I thought as I drifted off, dreams of a happier, brighter future lighting up my sleep.

**A/N: **Well it has been one hell of a journey for Simon so far... but this Is only the beginning for him, much more awaits him at Beacon and I hope to see you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. -CC signing off.


	19. Arrival at Beacon

**A/N:** **CC Signing on with a bit of bad news... Due to an unforeseen glitch in the matrix, the sequel to this story seems to have gone missing from the archives and my profile (including my story recovery)... so instead of re-creating the sequel as a separate story, I shall just continue to add the new chapters to **_**From Hunted to Hunter.**_**:(**

Now that has been sorted, onto the story :) The next few chapters will mainly follow the Volume 1 canon (with some minor changes by me) but after that it will be into Simon's journey. I hope you all enjoy my work and I always welcome feedback, ideas, comments or questions. -CC

**Chapter 19: Arrival at Beacon, Aboard SDC private Airship. Simon's PoV:**

I felt someone shaking my shoulder and I awoke from my slumber "We're just about to land at Beacon, you got time to freshen up and grab a bite to eat in the galley before we land, I don't know what to expect when we land so be prepared." Came the voice of my travelling companion and friend Weiss Schnee whom I had been serving as body guard to for 1 tumultuous year before being offered a place at Beacon by the headmaster, Professor Ozpin. "Right, Thanks Snowflake, If I ever fly again... I'd hope it's on this thing, it is a much less painful experience than flying on Bullheads." I replied, getting up and heading to another compartment, once again ignoring Weiss' rant about that "atrocious nickname", _'I wonder if she will ever realise I only call her that because it infuriates her' _I thought to myself chuckling as I reached the bath room and splashed some water on my face, drying off I traced the double facial scars running down the right side of my face, inflicted 2 years ago by a fork tipped sword wielded by a man named Schwarzer who had killed two police officers protecting me after the White Fang murdered my parents. I pushed those memories aside, I was determined to not allow my past rule me, I had to keep my focus in the here and now. I felt a little dizzy as the airship rocked during descent _'ugh I hate turbulence... keep it together Simmo, don't wanna throw up on your first day of school. heh, school... Been a long time since I been to one of them, this ought to get interesting' _I thought as I rearranged and tidied the camouflage uniform I was on that had gotten messed up during my sleep.

heading back into the cabin having decided to forgo a snack lest I get airsick during landing. I saw Weiss preparing to disembark "You excited Simon? The next four years learning how to slay Grimm and protect Remnant all away from the oppressive gaze of my father and his staff, I can't wait to show them all just what I can do when I send them perfect report cards and let them see exactly who I' am as more than an Heiress." Weiss said excitedly to which I merely rolled my eyes and smiled "I must admit it will be nice to be away from daily screaming sessions with Commander Magenta, to be able to sleep until after the sun rises instead of being rudely awoken at 3:45am every morning while a privileged few got to sleep in." I replied jokingly which earned me a scowl from the Heiress. "Hey, I resent that remark!" She whined and I simply laughed as we began to make our way towards the exit of the airship. As the ship landed Weiss began supervising the unloading of her luggage by a group of SDC staff, doing none of the actual heavy lifting herself.

_'Oh Weiss, how are you going to survive four years without the staffers here to do your heavy lifting, what is even in half of the bags you brought with you?'_ I thought as I picked up my own gear consisting of my webbing this time loaded with its intended survival and combat gear instead of just stuffed full of dust grenades, an additional bandolier that held my primary weapon (A Double bladed battle staff that doubled over as a waist fired flechette gun named _Umbra Vigilans_) and 5 additional magazines for it. As well as a set of armoured gauntlets that featured retractable blades (created from the remains of my original weapon that had been destroyed in combat) a field pack topped with a rolled up swag and two additional travel bags loaded with personal items, clothes and ammo and tools for maintenance of my equipment, I looked and felt like a bloody pack mule by the end of it, but I refused to make the staffers carry any of my gear. As I walked out of the cargo bay, suddenly regretting my decision not to dump my gear off with the staffers I saw Weiss walking towards the academy ahead of a trolley containing what looked to be the consignment of dust she had brought with her. I was about to jog forward to catch up when out of nowhere some little cloaked girl who looked far too young to be here tripped and knocked all of the boxes off the trolley. I stopped running and got out my scroll to film the shit storm that Weiss was about to unleash upon this poor girl.

I managed to start filming just as Weiss stood over the cloaked girl and began lecturing her about what she about how dangerous and valuable the contents of the dust cases were... insults such as "Dolt" and "Brain-dead" were used. I noticed Weiss shaking a dust vile that had a loose lid causing dust to get in the younger girls nose. _'Oh my this is going to be so hilarious if that stuff goes off', _my thought was brought to reality a moment later when a mini explosion rocked the courtyard leaving a decent sized crater in the ground, I managed to keep my scroll filming the scene, but by this time I was just laughing hysterically, trying my best not to double over with all the gear loaded onto me. I continued laughing as Weiss kept berating this poor little girl who for the most part just looked out of her depth, until towards the end she grew some spine and arced up at the Heiress, this just caused me to laugh even more, wondering how long until weapons got drawn, thankfully a 3rd girl managed to defuse the situation by correcting the cloaked girl on the fact that Weiss was an _Heiress _rather than a _Princess._ This 3rd girl whom I could only see from behind from where I was standing looked familiar somehow, but I couldn't quite figure it out. Things suddenly took a turn for the worse when the black haired girl began insulting the SDC's business tactics especially with regards to its labour force, which understandably Weiss got offended over, I on the other hand felt a slight pang of guilt. _'Not even here 10 minutes and already being reminded of that shit' _I lamented.

I saw Weiss storm off in a huff as the SDC staffers began packing the dust cases back onto the trolley, _'ah well... at least I haven't made any enemies like Weiss has yet.' _I thought as I tried to bring my laughter back under control before I made my way towards the school buildings. I saw the little cloaked girl walk off with a scruffy looking blond boy who had been kind enough to help her up after she slumped back to the ground _'Good to know that helping strangers is something people do.' _I thought to myself as I lugged my gear over to the SDC staffers to leave most of it with them having decided I preferred not being a pack mule, because I was carrying nearly my own body weight in weapons, ammo and belongings which was quickly straining my shoulders and my knee to carry it all. Taking only my weapon, its bandolier and my webbing I strolled off the direction that Weiss had stormed off in. Eventually I reached a large hall that contained most of Beacon's students for some sort of introductory speech I guessed, rather than try to go see Weiss, who from what I could see was tearing into that poor cloaked girl again I made my way to a comfortable shadowy corner to stand in and lean against the wall order to watch the proceedings. As I watched Weiss wave a SDC safety manual in the girls face I heard a voice beside me.

"So I' am not the only one who prefers to watch things from the shadows." I recognised the voice, I turned to face the raven haired girl, only to be confronted with a face I had never wanted to see, a face that adorned a photo of a father/daughter pair that I kept in my field pack that I had taken from the body of a White Fang soldier I had killed named Schwarzer Belladonna. In front of me stood his daughter Blake Belladonna, even though her black cat ears were hidden underneath a bow I recognised the golden eyes immediately from the photo that I had long since memorised. I managed to keep my composure and keep my face impassive... barely. "I prefer the shadows and the peace and anonymity it gives me to allow me to observe others." I replied, turning back to the crowd and leaning against the post, every never and muscle in my body on edge. _'Play it cool Simon... don't let on that you know anything about her' _My mind commanded as I steadied myself, before any reply could come from the Faunus in disguise I heard a speaker come to life and Professor Ozpin stood on the stage with Professor Goodwitch. _'Thank fuck, saved by the principal' _I thought as I focused my attention on him.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills-and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose-direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." With that he left and Professor Goodwitch stepped forward and said that initiation was tomorrow and that for tonight we were to bed in the academy's ballroom. _'Well something's eating at the headmaster... and what bodes ill for him, bodes ill for us' _I groaned mentally as I made my way to the exit of the hall and waited for Weiss.

Once the Heiress walked out i strolled up beside her "So how's your first day going, you know apart from being exploded?" I asked giving a half hearted chuckle, doing my best to hide the shock I was feeling at seeing Blake at Beacon. Weiss growled and stood in front of me "We are not going to mention what happened with that immature dolt Ruby again... ever!" Her face flushing redder than the girls cloak. I simply laughed "So you got the girls name... going to work on getting her scroll frequency next Snowflake?" I knew I was asking to get impaled on _Myrtenaster _but this was simply too good an opportunity and being a smartass to pass up. I didn't think it was possible but Weiss went even redder, the Heiress tried to yell and berate me but nothing came out of her mouth, I had literally angered her to the point she couldn't even speak. Weiss stormed off and left me there almost choking on my own laughter _'Oh she is going to absolutely flip the hell out when she finds out I got that on film'_. I chuckled before deciding to do some exploring of the grounds while it was still light out. I didn't exactly want to go to the ballroom yet due to the chance that Blake might have been there.

As evening fell I felt familiar enough with the grounds to be able to navigate it successfully so I made my way to where my gear had been stored to grab a swag and a change of clothes to sleep in, combat gear was not comfortable sleeping attire. I had to leave my weapons in a locker room, which had put me into a stressed out mood, despite being adept at unarmed combat... I tended to get very antsy when unarmed due to the last time I went anywhere without a weapon I was beat to within an inch of my life by a gang of thugs. This was compounded by paranoia of Blake being here to track me and kill me. As I entered the ballroom, my swag slung over my back, eventually picking out a secluded corner from which no one could sneak up on me and with a view of the whole room I rolled out the swag and laid down on the thin mattress contained within it. I saw a lot of the guys in the room rough housing and generally horsing about without a care in the world, part of me wanted to join them... but I decided against it lest I accidentally injured their prides and made enemies, especially If I had to be on the same team as them. looking elsewhere I saw Blake also sitting in a corner, engrossed in a book... or at least trying to be, she was having some difficulty due to the cloaked girl, Ruby and another girl, this one a nice looking Blonde harassing her.

I kept watching on, both apprehensively as to why she was here and amused at her obvious annoyance at the girls standing in front of her. I couldn't hear their voices over the sound of nearby boys engaging in wrestling matches but I saw the blonde bear hug Ruby which ended up in a fight. Quickly scanning I saw Weiss making her way over to the trio _'Oh this ought to be good' _I watched closely as Weiss' hushed yelling could be heard, I saw the blonde ready herself to a fight with Weiss before Ruby hushed them all and tried to defuse the sight, I watched this amusedly before a pillow flew into my face, I saw a group of boys who had been wrestling the night before chuckling at me, I tossed it back, scoring a direct hit on a scrawny kid with sand coloured hair. I rolled my eyes and went to lay back down, only to instead have the same pillow chucked back at me. Growling I stood and marched over to the group of boys "I'll say this once, toss another pillow at me, and I'll beat to a bloody pulp whoever threw it." I threatened, my eyes fixed on the sandy haired boy who shrugged and stared back, unafraid of my threats. "Well stop ogling my friend Yang or her sister Ruby and you won't have a problem with us. I was a bit taken aback by this accusation, I rolled my eyes "I wasn't ogling your friend or her sister thank-you very much, so get your facts straight before making accusations." I retorted.

"Oh so you're ogling the black haired girl, she really is quite the looker" One of the other boys shot back at me, I growled and clenched my fists before diving into a tackle against the offender, rolling over him and ensuring he remained on his back I executed an arm bar on the kid, applying the maximum pressure I could without snapping anything or otherwise injuring the boy. The rest of the group all jumped me, and we ended up a wild pile of swinging fists and legs, we were quickly joined by other boys looking to have a good scrap to practice for whatever tomorrow brings. Eventually all but 2 or 3 boys were involved and most of the girls were watching on as we beat each other to a bloody pulp. I ended up against the scrawny sandy haired boy, tumbling across the ground as we laid several punches into each other. After about 5 minutes of all out brawls, the fights began dissipating as all the pent up ego's and tensions were released, I eventually pushed the scrawny kid away and scrambled my way back to my swag. I noticed a blinking green light on my scroll indicating a message, opening I saw it was from Weiss

_Was it really needed to begin an all out brawl on our first night at Beacon? I need my sleep and you boys are cutting into it! Stop horse playing and get some sleep or so help me...!_

I chuckled and decided I better not notch up a 3rd strike on Weiss' shit list tonight... or I might actually need to make an apology, so I simply laid down and tried to get as much sleep as I could between fretting about not being armed and paranoia about Blake trying to kill me.

I awoke early the next morning, most people were still asleep... a habit of 12 months as a body guard. So instead of laying awkwardly in my swag I packed my gear up as silently as I could and slunk out of the ballroom towards the locker room where my gear had been stored until I was assigned a team and a dorm, changing into a T-shirt and a pair of football shorts I went on nice long jog around the campus as the sun rose, it was good to be alone for a bit after being in such a crowded environment for so long, even better to be away from Blake, anytime she was near I felt like I was about to get a sword through my back. After about 5km I found myself back in the locker rooms, where I proceeded to shower and change into my combat uniform before getting some breakfast with Weiss once the sleepy head finally woke up.

"So did you get enough beauty sleep Snowflake? Or did the big burly boys keep you up all night?" I asked jokingly, to which Weiss replied by trying to impale my hand with a fork. "Not in the mood... first that red dolt and her sister, then tall, blond and scraggly... I don't need you terrorising me as well!" She growled in warning, I heeded the implied warning.  
"Wow sounds like you've had a rough first day, guess that was to be expected given that the people here aren't going to be obedient to your every whim like the castle staff" I said, mentally adding on _'At least no one here is a potential assassin here to kill you'._ Weiss seemed to pick up that something was off about me "I know something's the matter Simon... so what's up? You still worried about being back in Vale?" The Heiress asked with genuine concern.  
"Yeah that's it... just a little overwhelming." I said, lying about the real reason, not wanting to worry my friend. Weiss nodded slowly, obviously slightly sceptical of my reasoning, but decided not to pursue it. "Say Simon, have you given any thought to teams?" Weiss asked, obviously hoping I'd agree to be on her team. I shrugged "I don't know how they're sorting out the teams but I'll try to end up on your team if it's possible. But if not, I' am sure we'll still see a lot of each other during the next four years." I replied noncommittally before rising to go collect the rest of my combat gear.

In the locker rooms I fitted on my elbow and knee pads, webbing as well as my gauntlets and the bandolier containing my gun staff that slung diagonally across my back top end over my left shoulder. Looking around I saw Weiss trying to convince the Mistral Tournament winner Pyrrha Nikos to join forces _'Wow Weiss, you really are trying to rig the system... it is going to backfire big time for you' _I thought as I sat down to give my gun staff _Umbra Vigilans _a quick clean to ensure the barrel or action doesn't jam when I need it and to sharpen the 45cm blades that extended from each end of the 90cm long staff inscribed with a quote. Deciding I was ready I tossed one last glance to see the blond boy I had seen Ruby walking around with yesterday hitting on Weiss and being pinned to a locker by a javelin fired by Pyrrha _'HA! If he keeps that up this will be an entertaining year for me, seeing Weiss get furious at other people that aren't me is always good.' _I thought before I walked out and made my way towards the initiation start point at the cliff glad that I hadn't seen Blake or those annoying boys from last night so far.

Standing on the cliff were several platforms on the ground where each of the 40 first year students were lined up each on a platform. I looked around and tried to size up possible team mates for me _'Ugh if I get some asshole this is going to be a VERY long 4 years' _I groaned mentally as I limbered up my muscles. I saw Ozpin and professor Goodwitch standing near the edge of the cliff, Ozpin stepped forward and began to address us all. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." After this Professor Goodwitch looked up from her scroll to look at us "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... Today" Ozpin once again took over  
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." At this my jaw dropped _'That is the most bullshit way of sorting anything out I have ever heard and I was in a terror group for 3 years!' _I mentally fumed at this selection process.

As I was still mentally cursing the team selection process I heard the task of getting some sort of relic with your partner and making your way back to the cliff. "Good! Now, take your positions" came the final orders from Ozpin, I wondered what he meant by that, at least I did until I saw several of the platforms begin to jump up, propelling the students standing on them into the air and towards the forest. At This my eyes Widened as I realised that only 1 person was to be launched before me. Quickly I extended the blades on my Gauntlets, feeling that they would be more useful in this than my gun staff. _'Ugh i' am definitely regretting the 2nd serving of breakfast I had' _I managed to think before I heard the platform under me click and launch me into the air "**FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU OZPIN!**" I screamed as I was launched towards the Emerald Forest and into my first test at Beacon Academy.

**A/N: **CC here again, just wanting to say that Chapter 2 of my collaboration story with **Blue Hurricane **entitled _"Mercenaries and Insurgents" _Has just been uploaded under Hurricane's profile... so check it out! I hope you've all enjoyed Simon's first taste of Beacon academy... I welcome all feedback so please don't hesitate to make a comment, suggestion or ask a question! -CC Signing off.


	20. Initiation

**A/N: **That Finale... what did everyone else think? I loved it... especially seeing Coco's motherfucking Gatling gun! though I' am kinda peeved we didn't see Velvet's weapon... Monty you tease! So we've met Yang's mum and Adam has made his return... all in all Volume three is going to be epic I think!

Now onto Simon's Initiation... I' am sorry this chapter took a while, I have spent a little time tweaking the events and who will ultimately join Simon on his journey through Beacon... As Always I hope you Enjoy reading what I write as much as I enjoy writing it all for you. -CC.

**Chapter 20: Initiation, The Emerald Forest. Simon's PoV:**

_'I swear if i ever get a hold of Ozpin I' am going to bash his brains in with that cane of his' _I swore mentally as I flew through the air, my stomach churning and my severe hate of heights and flying getting greater every moment. _'Ok so how in bloody fuck am I going to land this? _I tried to figure this out on the fly, Seeing a very tall tree I decided to become a trapeze artist: as the branch came up to me I latched on and swung around it a few times to arrest my momentum until I eventually found myself coming to rest on the very thick and very high up branch. After I had emptied my stomach into the forest below I looked around, this branch had a view of just about the entire forest. _'As much as I regret perching myself up so high...this is a good place for some recon' _I thought as I removed a small pair of binoculars and a compass from a pouch in my webbing and looked around to see where other students where ending up and to try and get a bearing on this temple. Looking through the binoculars the first person I saw was of course Weiss, using her glyphs to gracefully leap down to the ground without very much bother at all. _'Bloody show off, she could have left some of them for me the before I went and nearly got myself killed trying to trapeze around a branch at the speed of fucking sound'. _

Deciding to put off berating my friend I looked around once more and saw the Blonde girl, Yang I think her name was, thinking back to before last night's brawl. She was bouncing from tree to tree using cartridges fired from what looked like a set of Gauntlets, _'Yeah that girl is having way to much fun flying around like that... she must be loco.' _I thought as I continued my recon. I saw a flash of red and bronze rush past me, smashing through several trees, including one right next to mine which led to me being showered in splinters "Damn Pyrrha! Stop being a dick to the trees!" I called out after her as she sped through several more trees. _'Meh, didn't make eye contact... guess I' am still on the lookout for a partner, too bad I would have loved to have seen Weiss' face if I turned up with Pyrrha as a partner' _I chuckled at the fury that would have caused. Continuing to look around for a couple minutes I saw an old ruined temple about 3km away _'Well I guess I better get moving, I'll pick up a partner along the way' _I thought as I gingerly jumped from branch to branch, using all my concentration to not let the heights get to me, lest get dizzy and fall.

Managing to get to the bottom without too much damage being done I withdrew my gun staff from its bandolier and set it to its gun mode and began to make my way through the forest, only when I was moving did I realise just how nerve-racking it was to move through hostile areas alone, normally I'd have Lachlan by my side and the marksmen Shauno and Kale watching our backs from some perch they had set up in, but here all I had was myself, even if only temporarily. I kept off the tracks that weaved through the forest and instead opted to move through the bushes, constantly scanning around for either creatures of Grimm or another student, hopefully the later of those options as it had been a very long time since I'd fought Grimm and despite studying them both in the Fist and listening into Weiss' tutors on Grimm, I didn't feel exactly confident to take on some of the larger species. After about 15 minutes of moving silently through the forest I ended up by a small stream where I decided to grab a drink, having already emptied my canteen after my landing to wash the taste of my stomach contents out of my mouth post-landing. As I filled my canteen back up I heard rustling in the bushes across the creek _'And so it begins...' _I mentally sighed as I hefted my gun staff to my hip and let loose into the bushes with about 30-40 flechettes. But instead of hearing the sounds of steel meeting flesh and the howls of dying Grimm, I heard the sound of metal hitting metal and the curses of a girl.

_'Oh fuck, I just shot at another student, I' am never going to hear the end of that one' _I thought to myself as I lowered my weapon and saw this young Faunus girl with floppy dog ears and a tail pop out of the bushes and cross the creek, carrying an axe and a shield and looking very perturbed at me "You really should ask questions first, shoot later when there are other students around soldier boy." She said angrily, however she really was right to be angry, I had unleashed a large salvo of lethal projectiles at her. I rolled my eyes "I' am sorry, that one was entirely my bad. This initiation has just got me a little on edge... So let's put this one behind us ok? Seeing as we will be living and working together for the next 4 years." I said, genuinely apologising, and hoping this wouldn't turn into a grudge. The girl growled at me before sighing "Fine, just.. be more careful of what you shoot at next time, there are 38 other students in this forest with us and I'd hate to be the cause of injuries or deaths of any of them." The girl said as she began to walk into the forest towards the temple, I quickly put my canteen back into its pouch on my webbing and followed along behind this Faunus girl, whose name I just realised I had no idea of. _'Oh I hate you Ozpin and this bullshit way of making teams.' _I once again mentally cursed the headmaster as I silently followed the axe wielder.

We had walked about 1.5km in silence, an extremely awkward silence, I could still feel the anger seething off the girl for the accidental shooting incident. _'Well guess I should probably try to break the ice... It couldn't be harder than it was with Weiss' _I thought to myself as I finally decided this silence had to end before it drove me insane. "The name is Simon by the way... and you are?" I asked clumsily and extremely awkwardly, having not really had to do this whole introduction thing before. The girl turned back to face me, still looking angry at me but her expression did soften a bit without losing its grumpy look "Sienna Reynolds, guess we're partners now. I guess I can overlook your recklessly offensive use of your weapon, just this once." With this she turned around and set off once more and once more I followed _'Great... I get stuck with someone even bitchier and standoffish than Weiss is when she is pissed off' _We couldn't have gone more than 500m when Sienna started sniffing the air and her ears perked up. I looked to my new partner nervously and slowly reached for my gun-staff, "Sienna, What is it?" I whispered, wanting to know what she had sensed. Then I saw it, a massive pillar of smoke and the sounds of burning Beowolves, "Well seems like someone's having a BBQ and never invited us, how rude!" I said chucking at my own joke, Sienna however was still looking about "It's not that... something, closing fast to the right." Sienna said impassively I rolled my eyes and readied my gun-staff and was about to let loose a burst of flechettes when I felt Sienna push the barrel of my weapon down and gave me a stern look about not repeating my earlier mistake.

We both looked to where Sienna had sensed something only for a pack of 6 Ursi and 1 Ursa Major I looked annoyed at Sienna "Ok now we know they are Grimm, now I shoot!" I yelled at her as I unleashed a large volley of flechettes, emptying my current magazine. I didn't take out any but all of them were injured from the lethal metal darts. Loading in another magazine I extended my weapon's blades and charged straight towards the Ursa Major _'take out the leader, the pawns fall easily' _I thought as my weapon clashed with Ursa's claw, I braced against the impact and utilised my Aura in a push with my weapon to make the Ursa lose balance and leave its underbelly exposed, which as I positioned myself to slash at with my weapon was turned to a bloody mess by an explosive round, which missed my head by mere inches. As the Ursa fell I turned to my partner who was holding the end of her axe towards me, a smoking barrel visible, Before I could make any comments to her about watching where she was shooting another Ursa sprung at me, swiping at me with its claws angrily. I managed to spring away out of the danger zone and back closer to my partner as the remaining Ursi surrounded us. "Ok, you got any ideas? Preferably ones that don't involve bullets whizzing past me again!" I asked Sienna as I slashed at an Ursa that got too close, the offending Ursa losing a leg for its troubles. "stick behind me, and be ready to use that gun of yours." Came the reply as Sienna brought her shield to bear to protect against the Ursa attacks. I rolled my eyes "You do realise we are surrounded, this is a terrible plan!" I said exasperatedly.

Deciding to ignore the plan I lunged out towards an Ursa that was behind Sienna which lunged towards me as well, at the last moment I dodged right and bounced off a nearby tree back at the Ursa's exposed side, blade of _Umbra Vigilans _leading my lunge. The Beast howled in pain, but was not defeated yet. It swiped me off of it, my weapon still lodged in its side. I rolled across the ground and extended my gauntlets blades undeterred by how resilient this Ursa was and charged straight back in, ducking under a swipe and launching with all my might an uppercut into the beasts ribcage, followed by a jab with my other bladed gauntlet into the beast's throat and slashed outwards, half-way severing the Ursa's throat.

As the beast fell dead I retrieved my weapon and turned to see Sienna beginning to get overwhelmed by the remaining 5 Ursi, _'Oh shit, I thought she could handle herself... this calls for drastic measures!' _I thought frantically as I withdrew 2 dust grenades from their assigned pouch on my webbing "Sienna think fast!" I yelled as I pulled the pins and tossed the grenades into the middle of the swarm of Ursi, Sienna saw what I had done and lunged up into the air and towards me using blasts from her weapon to control her direction. As I was preparing to lunge behind a tree to escape the shrapnel my grenades would produce when instead I was essentially tackled to the ground by Sienna who raised a bubble around us just as the grenades when off. I saw the grenades explode, 2 of the Ursi caught most of the shrapnel, through the other three also suffered wounds on top of what my flechettes and Sienna's weapons had inflicted.

I also several ball bearings from the grenades hit the bubble Sienna had raised around us _'An interesting semblance, she is a very defence based fighter,' _I observed of my partner as I saw the two most injured Ursa succumb to their wounds, the other three were howling in pain I looked to Sienna "I'll take the one on the left, you go right... we'll regroup for the middle one!" I said competitively, eager to finish this fight, my Aura flaring I charged the left most Ursi, the one that had already lost a leg to my blades, it seemed to recognise me as the culprit for its misery as it roared angrily and arced up on its hind legs to meet me. It swiped with its remaining foreleg which I easily dodged, however what I didn't dodge was its jaws which clamped down on the end of my staff, trying to wrest it from my grasp. Unfortunately for the Ursa it wasn't very smart as It had stuck a 45cm long blade in its mouth. I rammed the blade forward until it emerged from the back of the Ursa's head. As I wrenched my weapon out of the now dead Grimm's mouth I turned to see Sienna in the process of hatcheting her assigned Ursa's head off. We both looked to the third Ursa who had been disorientated by the grenades blast and prepared to race for its scalp. However before either of us could charge it, a Blur of pink, white and orange dashed at the Ursa and mounted it, and began to ride it around like a bucking bull. I looked at this scene then to Sienna who looked just as confused as I did. Eventually this redheaded girl managed to tame the Ursa and control its movements "ONWARD MY NOBLE STEED! WE MUST PICK UP REN THEN OFF TO GET A RELIC!" The redheaded girl sing-songed as She rode the wounded Ursa off into the forest to pick up someone named Ren.

I once again looked to Sienna "I have seen a lot of things in life... but that certainly tops the list for the weirdest" I said incredulously, still sceptical that it had actually happened. Sienna was by this time laughing quite hard which surprised me "So little miss grumpy actually does laugh?" I said condescendingly. Sienna rolled her eyes, still chuckling "Only the most stone cold, humourless person couldn't laugh at that sight... and even then I think it would be a stretch not to, now come on.. we're still about a Kilometre from the temple." Sienna said as she began jogging, her shield and axe still in her hands. _'Oh no, I' am not following anymore!' _I thought and I jogged off and got in front of Sienna and let her be the follower for once. We eventually came to a small knoll overlooking the temple. I withdrew my binoculars to scan the area while Sienna covered my six, I saw Yang and Blake among the temple ruins, this caused my blood to run cold _'It's ok Simon, so long as you can see her, she can't hurt you!' _I kept repeating this over and over until I managed to calm myself. I heard a scream incoming towards the temple, looking up I saw Ruby jumping from a Nevermore _'Oh my... these people really are insane, Ursa riders and now people jumping from Nevermores! What is this a fucking insane asylum?' _I wondered in my head as I saw Jaune come out of nowhere also in midair and knock Ruby into some trees just to the left of Sienna's and mine position.

"Sienna, Please tell me you're seeing this all as well and I' am not just insane?" I ask, beginning to wander about my mental state. "If by seeing this you mean people falling from the sky, that Ursa riding girl just arriving and a Deathstalker arriving, then yeah... I' am seeing this!" came Sienna's incredulous reply. I nodded slowly "I don't know what's worse... imagining all this happening, or having it actually unfold before my eyes... on second thought, it actually happening is way worse!" I replied, answering my own question. It was then that I heard Weiss' scream off in the distance "HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!" I looked all around for Weiss but couldn't find her on the ground _'Oh my... don't tell me...' _I thought as I scanned the air, finding Weiss of all places holding onto a Nevermore. "holy fuck... even Weiss has gone completely loco!" I muttered aloud as I saw Weiss fall from the Nevermore. I knew I wouldn't be quick enough to get to her, so I could only sit there and hope she could summon a glyph to save herself.Then once more out of nowhere comes a high flying Jaune to catch another falling girl, too bad they fell on him and not for him.

I felt Sienna tap my shoulder "We going to go help them? They seem like they're in trouble!" Sienna asked, basically pleading with me to stop being a spectator in this battle, but I stayed put, not wanting to end up anywhere near Blake unless absolutely required of me even if that did mean going against my instincts to go and help Weiss. "No, let them handle this... they started that fight themselves, they need to finish it themselves, It would negatively affect their grading in this test if we saved them." I said, making up some half assed reason for not wanting to lunge in to the fray. I heard Sienna groan in frustration and mutter something that sounded vaguely like _Coward _but I pushed that accusation out of my head. I continued to watch the scene unfold with Ruby trying to take on the Deathstalker, she got bounced off of the giant Grimm like nothing _'oh shit this won't end well' _I thought as I saw her make a run from the Deathstalker only to get caught up in a feather attack from the Nevermore. I looked to the others in the group, none looked to be within range to save the cloaked scythe wielder. I wanted to look away from the impending doom for Ruby but I hoped that some miracle would happen... and it did in the form of an ice wielding Weiss who froze the Deathstalker's stinger solid.

I looked down the opposite end of the clearing, to find a pack of about 30 Beowolves beginning to make their way towards the ruins "Sienna, I know it isn't as tough a kill as a Deathstalker or Nevermore, but there is a large pack of Beowolves making their way towards the temple, if they make it to the ruins with our fellow students still there, they'll be overwhelmed. So you feel like creating a new target for that pack to give the others some breathing room to deal with the larger Grimm?" I saw Sienna's face light up eagerly at the chance to help out and she immediately readied her axe and shield. "Ok you lead off, keep me covered while I thin their numbers out with my gun-staff." I asked of my partner, crouching behind her to wait for her to move off.

We quickly made our way through the tree line and got beside the pack who hadn't seemed to notice just the 2 of us when compared to the 8 people just a couple hundred metres away. I readied _Umbra Vigilans _and let fly into the exposed sides of the Beowolves with accurate, sustained bursts of about 10 flechettes per burst. I saw at least 10 go down howling in pain from the darts piercing their skin and perforating organs. As my clip emptied I tossed a couple grenades for good measure while I loaded another magazine and extended the blades on my gun-staff. "Ok Simon, You take right, I'll take left this time" Came the polite, yet firm command from Sienna. I rolled my eyes "Suits me just fine, the grenades detonating is our starting gun." I replied as I knelt behind Sienna's shield, once the grenades exploded and I heard ball bearings clatter against Sienna's shield I lunged out into the right flank of the remaining dozen or so Grimm creatures. The first Beowolf I came up against managed to catch me off guard with a pounce that knocked me back and nearly off my feet, but I managed to keep my footing and when the beast came at me again I ducked the claws and threw the Grimm over me and into a tree a couple metres to me left, with it dazed I lunged in and quickly severed its head. The 2nd and 3rd Beowolves fell to sustained bursts of Flechette Rounds. Looking over to Sienna I saw her Bouncing Beowolves off her shield or hacking them to pieces with her axe. I made my way over to her, hand springing over a Beowolf and took up position just behind her and let rip with my gun-staff's gun, once again noting the immense loss of accuracy and round dispersion while firing with the blades extended. "You holding up ok this time? no need for grenades this time I hope!" I said between bursts, Sienna pretended not to hear me, despite the fact I knew she did due to her acute hearing.

Sienna felled the final Beowolf with a blast from her axe's inbuilt gun straight to its face, leaving nothing recognisable as a face. "Ok, I think the others have made their getaway, I suggest getting a relic and getting the fuck back to the cliff before anything else shows up that wants to kill us." I said flatly, as I walked into the temple to see the chess pieces. _'Hmmm what's here that suits me... ah here, The Black Pawn. That certainly fits what I've been for so long.' _I thought in self-loathing as I picked up the piece and turned to my partner "Ok we have what we came for, let's go." I said as I began to jog off towards the cliff we had been launched from, not even bothering to listen to Sienna question as to why I chose the piece that I had. It had been an uneventful jog back to the cliff, until that was we got within sight of the cliff just in time to see Ruby, with the assistance of Weiss' glyphs decapitate the Nevermore. "Ok, now that was something badass there!" I exclaimed in awe as the Nevermore's body tumbled down into the abyss. Ensuring that no other Grimm were about I made my way out into the clearing, Sienna at my side to meet up with the other 4 students still on this side of the collapsed bridge to wait for a pick up back to the academy grounds all of us swapping stories of the events of that day, stories we would be telling for many, many years to come.

**Beacon Main Gallery: Team Announcements: Simon's PoV:**

After having arrived back at the academy grounds we had been brought to the main gallery to have our teams formally announced and us introduced to the rest of the school, so here I was standing with Sienna, The boy I had been brawling with last night with the sandy coloured hair and another girl I had never seen before who had happened to pair up with the boy and grab the other _Black Pawn _piece. We stood silently all obviously sizing each other up and making judgements on their new teammates. The Team before us had just been announced and It was our turn to take centre stage, it was time for me to come back out from the shadows and back from the dead...

**Velvet Scarlatina's PoV:**

I had been standing with my team and the rest of the 2nd year students to see the new first years be introduced to the school having just finished their initiation. I could see the youthful and innocent optimism on their faces as they stood there to be made official students of Beacon, I remembered standing up there next to Yatsuhashi as he, I along with Fox and our leader Coco became team CVFY, so much had happened in a year, I had become so much more adept at dust manipulation and my academic scores were near perfect, I was finally getting myself on track to make my dreams of being a Huntress come true.

I watched the latest group of first years this team had a Faunus girl in it, which made me glad that more and more Faunus got into Beacon every year, Professor Ozpin does so much to ensure equality between humans and Faunus in Beacon. Looking to the others I saw 2 boys and another girl. The girls and one of the boys, scrawny kid with sandy coloured hair all had that innocent, optimistic and determined Aura about them, however the 2nd boy, this one with was clad in a soldiers uniform and armour with severe scars down the right side of his face had a completely different Aura around him: a Jaded, sad and tortured aura who seemed to be troubled by a great many things. _'What in Remnant has happened to you? What secrets hide behind that wall you keep around yourself?' _I thought sympathetically to the young man who now stood on the stage. I heard Professor Ozpin speak up and I saw the members of the team step forward as their name was called "Teal Wolfsbane, Sienna Reynolds" I saw the 2 girls step forward "Nyanza Torres and Simon Alexander. You retrieved the _Black Pawn _pieces, from this day forward you shall work together as team SuNSeT to be lead by Simon Alexander." At this news I think my heart stopped beating for a moment _'Simon? Alive? But, no... it couldn't be him... he has been gone for 5 years!' _My mind tried to make sense of my friends sudden reappearance at Beacon after so long, tried to convince me that it was just another Simon Alexander who happened to be born the same year, however my instincts reminded me that his body had never been found and that standing down on stage was in fact my friend alive and well... And with that realisation came a great many questions.

**A/N: **I hope you all enjoyed this, I decided not to have all of team SNST work together during initiation due to most teams probably not meeting or working together in the way that RWBY and JNPR did during initiation. Please leave a review, hearing from those who take the time to read my Fanfic is always good encouragement and motivation to keep writing.

**Also I shall have the next chapter out sometime today or tomorrow.. so apologies to those that are waiting for more of Simon at Beacon.** -CC Signing off.


	21. An Unwanted Reunion

**A/N:** I know this chapter took a while to make but I've been busy studying for my end of year exams as well as tweaking and experimenting with my characters to try and get them right in my eyes. Now without anymore rambling on my part... onto the story -CC

**Chapter 21:An Unwanted Reunion. 3rd Person PoV:**

As Simon stood up on stage with his team and their names were announced, all of the hushed chatter died instantly and Simon could feel every eye in the hall on him, and with good reason seeing as he was meant to be dead. Simon even heard his own teammates gasp at the revelation of who he was _'Guess this is going to lead to a lot of questions from them and just as many lies from me' _ Simon thought as he began to feel very exposed from the staring and at the first opportunity he exited the stage and the hall in the swiftest walk he could, not bothering to watch the three remaining teams Including Weiss' be formed. _'That was way more intense than I thought it would be' _Simon thought frantically as he began to hyperventilate in response to the piercing gazes he had just endured, unaware that he was being watched, unaware that his return into Vale was about to go to a whole new level of complicated.

"Simon? Is that really you?" Came a choked up voice behind the young staff wielder. Simon turned on his heel, to be confronted with the one person he did not want to see at the current time with his head still overwhelmed by this all. A girl with bunny ears and long brown hair and brown eyes that were currently piercing Simon's very soul. "Velvet?" Was all Simon could manage, his mind going into total meltdown _'This is all way too much... too much' _Simon's mind screamed as his knees began to wobble and he leaned against the wall of the building to support himself. Velvet moved in and propped him up, making sure he didn't fall over. The touch of his old friend sent shockwaves and a spine tingling feeling through his spine that both soothed, frightened and totally overwhelmed the boy. "Yes Simon, it's Velvet. Here take your time and calm yourself." Came her soothing voice, But Simon was anything but calm and his mind told him to just get out of there, get out of the light and return to the shadows of anonymity, even though that was no longer possible but that didn't stop him from trying. As soon as his legs stopped wobbling Simon sprinted off as fast as his legs could carry him. Leaving behind a very distraught Bunny _'Oh Simon... what has this horrible world done to you in these 5 years?' _Velvet wondered to herself as she reflected upon the fact that many scars that marked just about every patch of visible skin as well as the slight limp that Simon ran with. Before Velvet could take off after Simon her team arrived "Velvet Where have you been? You ran off without any explanation and missed the rest of the ceremony, what's gotten into you?" Coco asked, always ensuring the welfare of her teammate. "It's nothing to worry about.. I' am fine Coco... _The same cannot be said for my friend though" _Velvet replied to her teammate, the end bit being muttered under her breath.

**Simon's PoV:**

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, away from those staring eyes and from the memories that seeing Velvet brought back, both the happy memories of a group of innocent kids and the torturous memories of having my family butchered and my childhood destroyed. Eventually I ended up the gardens near the Airship landing pads where I collapsed against a tree and slumped to the ground my mind melting down and everything I had spent years hiding away in the dark spots in my mind so I wouldn't need to confront them came crashing back _'I wasn't ready... I wasn't ready to come out of the shadows and back into the real world. It was a mistake coming here' _I withdrew my canteen from my webbing and splashed some on my face. I sat there for what seemed like hours trying to build the courage to go back, but not being able to face the inevitable questions that would come from everyone, But I can't let anyone know of what I've been through... what I've done, no one except those who were there with me can understand why we did what we did and only Weiss would not judge me for what I was. No one else could find out... Not until I died and my Journal went public.

Then came the biggest problem, which was Blake and anyone else wanting me dead. _'If she is indeed here to kill me, Ozpin has just placed a giant bloody target on my back... from her, The white fang and the Fist. Though those two aren't a problem so long as I' am in the academy grounds, they wouldn't dare attack here.' _My mind reasoned, but it did little to calm me down and I couldn't stop my hand shaking _'Ok, just breathe... get to the gym as soon as... fighting always keeps my mind off that which I don't want to think of.' _ I tried to stand, to go somewhere where I can just vent my feelings on something or someone and be focused on something rather than idle thinking. But my legs refused to obey my commands. I groaned in frustration and instead smacked the back of my head on the tree repeatedly until I felt blood run down the back of my neck, trying to bash away the memories and faces of those I'd killed assaulting my mind.. it was a horrible habit I knew but I couldn't help but try to make it all go away. Eventually all of the emotion spent I managed to calm myself down from my meltdown and stand back up, looking around I noticed it was nearly sunset _'Guess I should go and meet my team... ugh this is off to such a great start' _I though sarcastically as I made my way towards the dorm areas, thinking up answers to any probing questions I maybe asked and thinking up a cover story for what I had been doing these past 5 years as I went.

Eventually I found the first year dorm area, my scroll had been updated with a lock code for our teams dorm as well as class schedules and other administrative files that had to do with being the team leader. When I found the door marked "TEAM SNST" I noted the door marked "TEAM CDRL" across from us before entering my code into our door and opening it. Entering the room I saw three people in the dorm bickering: "I' am not doubting his ability or bravery as a combatant Sienna... I' am just saying how can we depend on him if he cuts and runs the first moment when he is under any type of pressure or scrutiny!" Came the voice of Teal, the 2nd girl on _SNST _Who stood about 6cm shorter than I did with tanned skin and a more curvy build than the petite Sienna. Teal had blonde hair with tips coloured the same as her name. I cleared my throat to announce my arrival which caused Teal to become as white as a ghost I glared at Teal _'She has not made a good first impression by the sounds of it... but neither have I' _I thought closing the door and leaning against the wall beside it.

"Ok, I know I may have ran out as soon as we were off the stage and I apologise for any worry that may have caused any of you. However Teal, you'll find that I' am very dependable in combat and under the pressures related to such activities." I said firmly but without malice, Teal was right about my inability to deal with pressure and problems I couldn't solve by simply killing the cause of it but no way in hell I was going to let her know that. Teal shook her head "Fine, whatever. I' am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But fail us again and you should think long and hard about whether you can handle the burden of being a leader." Teal shot at me, her tone filled with contempt. _'Well, guess that is one bitch in the team... this will be SUCH a fun 4 years' _I thought as I turned to the sandy haired boy "Well Nyanza, I haven't heard anything from you... got something to say?" I asked, more like ordered him to give his thoughts. The sandy haired boy looked at me with a blackened eye, that I realised I had inflicted during the first nights scuffle "I Don't particularly care about the fact you're the leader, I' am sure you'd do it well, better than Teal certainly could. However one does have to wonder what a ghost such as yourself is doing here and what you've been doing for the last 5 years?" Came Nyanza's reply which made me instantly regret asking him to speak up.

All three of my teammates looked at me intently for my answer, so I proceeded with my pre-prepared semi-lie. "After what happened with the White Fang, I stowed away on an SDC cargo ship bound for Atlas. From there I found myself falling into a group of freelance mercenaries and Grimm hunters operating outside of the kingdom rendering our services to the colonies and villages in the Atlesian Highlands. Now please STOP calling me a ghost... or you may find yourself being the ghost" my voice flat, toneless as I read off the mental script I had prepared with a very serious threat at the end. Looking around I could see that my teammates, especially Sienna were sceptical of this story. Before anyone could ask any more questions I decided to take the initiative and change the subject "Ok enough about me. Weapons inspection, I want to see what I have to work with on this team." I barked my order just like Kruger and Sanderson used to whenever something was needed of us. Obviously this style of leadership was not going to go down well at all judging by the reactions I got: Teal scowled at me and flipped me off, Sienna shook her head and muttered something along the lines of _'You already know my weapon'_ and Nyanza just pointed and laughed "HA, he has been leader for like 5 minutes and he is already barking orders at us like we're his pet dogs... no offence Sienna" He said mockingly. Sienna seemed to have taken offence by the way she suddenly started snarling at Nyanza which caused him to throw his arms up in surrender.

I looked on at this sudden breakdown of relations amongst SNST and rubbed my temples "People, let's try NOT to kill each other on our first day as a team! Now please bring out your weapons and describe them to me." I asked of my team this time, but my tone was still the same commanding one I had used the first time. "Well now that you say please, I guess I can show you my bad boys." Nyanza said sarcastically as he drew back his sleeves to reveal a set of gauntlets, not unlike my own. "Well that was anti-climactic Nyanza, I got a pair of blade gauntlets as well" I said mockingly to the sandy haired kid. Nyanza poked his tongue at me "Yeah well can yours do this?" He said as he shot the blades out of the gauntlets and into a dartboard he had set up near his bed. Nyanza's gauntlets reloaded another blade and repeated the process, except this time the blades had a tether attached to them. That one made my eyes widen a bit "Well that was unexpected... interesting and unique weapon Nyanza." I said flatly, trying to work out exactly how Nyanza used his weapons in combat. "Wait till you see me use _Taunting Gambit _here to put that ghostly dart shooter you tout around to shame!" came the taunt from my teammate, once again insinuating I was a ghost, much to my annoyance.

But before I could arc up at him and maybe hit him, the sound of a whip cracking caught my attention. Teal had a large whip unfurled at her side that was obviously her preferred weapon. "Well then... I' am living with a ghost and a dominatrix, this is shaping up to be an epic 4 years" Came Nyanza's immediate witty remark which caused me to nearly double over in laughter _'There is always one witty asshole in every group... 2 In Rum Squad actually' _I thought, my previous concerns about being found out temporarily vanishing as Nyanza took the attention off me. "Did you just call me a Dominatrix? you prick! I'am going to seriously kick your ass!" Teal snapped at her partner, clicking on the whips hilt so it glowed with Yellow electric dust. I chuckled, noting Teal's poor choice of words which Nyanza had also picked up on. "Kick my ass? Why... not going to use that whip on it?" Was the instant reply, Nyanza and I were choking on laughter, even Sienna chuckled a bit. However Teal was incensed and stormed towards Nyanza, I however got in between them and tried not to laugh as I defused the situation "Teal... Not here, not now... if you're going to beat him to a bloody pulp, do it in the arena during combat classes." I managed to say, without sniggering more than twice. Teal flipped off both Nyanza and myself before deactivating the dust and curling up her whip. "Right then... I' am off to clean myself up and go to sleep, I think we all need plenty of rest after initiation and classes begin tomorrow." Teal announced as she put her weapon down and began rummaging around in her luggage for what I could only assume to be toiletries and pyjamas.

I however had other plans. "Not so fast there... we still need to unpack and set our room up, so we don't have to rush around trying to find things tomorrow." I said firmly, still using a commanding tone like Kruger. This earned me more groans from everyone. "Simon, we're tired... and I know you are as well, I' am sure it can wait until after class tomorrow." Sienna said yawning. But I was not deterred "Fine... I'll give you all a choice seeing as you want to run this team like a democracy: 1/ we can set our stuff up now and be able to sleep in tomorrow morning before class or; 2/ You can sleep now and be awoken at my usual wake up time of 3:45am. Your choice?" I said evilly, fully intending on waking them up when I did. The three other members of _SNST _gawked at me grumbling and setting about unpacking their belongings and setting up their few personal possessions Not willing to test my resolve on the issue. I finished the quickest, having had nothing with me really apart from clothes and my scroll and my combat gear but that was all in my locker. I came to the last compartment of my field pack had a small code locked box: Containing my journal, the photo of Blake and Schwarzer as well as the Black Fist patches from my camo uniform I placed the lockbox under my pillow and I was done.

Having finished first, I took the time to take out my scroll and send a message off to Kruger... I' am going to need a serious crash course in leadership from him to deal with this.

_Mon Capitaine, Rum Runner 1_

_Arrived Safely at the Beacon. However unforeseen developments have complicated my arrival: I have been given responsibility as a team leader. Responsible for the lives of three others. Requesting advice for how to deal with this new found responsibility before I get someone killed?_

_Secondary note: Have heard no word from Rum Runner 7, probable location: still in Atlas. Will begin search for Rum Runner 3 and Rum Runner 4 at earliest available opportunity. Send Rum Runner 2 my regards and congratulations for his continued success at Atlas-U._

_-Rum Runner 8 Signing off._

As the coded message sent I locked my scroll, grabbed a towel and made my way off into the dorm's adjoining bathroom to scrub off the dirt and Grimm blood from the initiation and the dried blood from my head from my self-inflicted head bashing, but mainly I just needed to be alone for a moment away from the prying questions of my teammates and everyone else in this school. Exiting the shower after a good 5 minutes I may not have felt any better, but I looked much more normal... Well what counted for normal around here. Looking at myself in the mirror: other than the scars one would never know I'd seen much combat or death. Satisfied at my veil of normality I walked back out into the bedrooms to see that the girls had towels out and were obviously waiting for me to exit so they could get ready for bed.

I crashed onto my bed and tried to get comfortable, not used to sharing a sleeping area after having had private quarters for so long. Nyanza was hanging up posters for some superhero comic called: X-ray and Vav. _'Man, I never even heard of that comic before just now... Just how much have I missed in these last years? I' am going to have to look into what I've missed.' _I thought as I tossed about.

"So what do you think of our partners? Sienna seems pretty good... Teal from what I've seen during initiation and tonight seems to be way too uptight and proud: She kept going on about how she comes from a big family of Huntresses including three older sisters who have attended and topped their classes at Beacon and were their team leaders. Something tells me she is pissed that you got the role." I heard Nyanza addressing me from his side of the room. I rolled over to face him and shrugged "She can be pissed all she wants so long as she follows my directives. You definitely got the short end of the stick when it comes to partners... though Sienna and I didn't exactly meet on best of terms, I may have accidentally mistaken her for a Grimm and unleashed a hail of flechettes at her." I replied, beginning to realise just how dysfunctional this team is going off first impressions.

I could hear Nyanza laughing at me "Wow, way to go... guess 5 years of shoot first, ask questions later gave you an itchy trigger finger. Or do you just compare Faunus to Grimm? Because your battle uniform looks a lot like those you see used by the _Black Fist _in Atlas?" Nyanza pointed out. I froze, lucky that Nyanza couldn't see my face at the time. As I turned to face him to reply the awkwardness of the situation was made worse when Sienna stormed into the room "Ok Who mentioned those filthy violent Faunus haters the _Black Fist!_" she snarled at the both of us. I already had planned for someone asking about my uniform as well "My group was not aligned with either the _Black Fist _or the _White Fang. _Our group however raided several _Black Fist _supply depots. I procured several sets of their woodland and snow uniforms for my personal use. I' am quite insulted you'd compare me to those destructive monsters!" I said, probably trying a little too hard to sound offended. But the my partner and Nyanza seemed to buy into my lie.

With that close call averted I only just noticed that Sienna was in nothing but a towel which caused my face to flush a deep crimson and only taking a fleeting glance at the girl I hid my eyes out of embarrassment as I'd never actually seen a girl naked or near naked like that before. _'This is going to take a while to get used to' _I thought bashfully. As I looked up to see Sienna re entering the bathroom, Sighing in relief I laid back into my pillow and tried to sleep, which proved difficult with the noise of Sienna and Teal re entering the room talking and Nyanza playing games and listening to music on his scroll which I could still hear despite him wearing earphones. Sitting up I looked at the time on my watch that sat permanently resided on my wrist _2155._"Ok Nyanza, 5 more minutes then it is time to shut off your scroll... If I can hear the sounds from it then Sienna is probably getting very annoyed at it by now with her ultra sensitive hearing." I said firmly, deciding 10pm was a reasonable time to get to sleep _'Heres hoping I' am able to sleep in later than 0345.' _I thought as I laid back down, trying to shut out any noise from my teammates.

As I tried to sleep my mind wandered back to Velvet. Upon reflection, she seemed very sad and lonely.. Not at all the happy sociable bunny girl that I remembered. The world and those in it had obviously been unkind to her for no other reason than the ears upon her head. _'Guess It was very hard on her losing her friend and then all the violence and hate that followed. How could I have ever believed Sir's bullshit about her and her family being as bad as the Fang?! _I mentally fumed at my own stupidity for having ever believed what I had been told while there. Eventually sleep found me, a shallow dreamless one but sleep nonetheless.

**Velvet's PoV:**

As I sat in my bed I stared out the window and to the stars as I wrote a text on my scroll to my parents informing them of Simon being alive, I just knew they would be amazed and relieved to hear it. But I was still troubled about my encounter with him today. _'Why did he run from me? He recognised me but he still ran. Why can't he face me?, but I' am not going to stop trying until I found out what's wrong and helped him get through it. I know my friend is still somewhere inside that shell of a person. Don't worry Simon I'am not giving up on you.' _I resolved as I finished my letter and sent it off before finally trying to lay down bidding good night to my team I laid down and tried to sleep.

**A/N: **I hope you all like Team _SNST_. You're going to see plenty more of them from here on out as well as the rest of the RWBYcrew especially of course everyone's favourite Bunny Faunus. -CC Signing off.


	22. The First Day

**A/N: **WOW... just WOW... passed 4000 views for the story and 6 new followers from the last chapter as well as plenty of feedback as well... You guys are **AWESOME!** I' am glad that you people are enjoying this. From what the reviews said, it seems _SNST _had a positive reception, especially Teal. I' am glad you guys liked my team... I've been slowly developing them since before I began writing this Fanfic exactly 3 months ago on August 19th (still kinda can't believe I've actually kept writing for this long). Unfortunately for Simon... it's time for class... poor guy.

Also it is going to be a long chapter today, the chapter that takes this story past the 100,000 word mark ... But I' am sure you guys don't mind it -CC

**Chapter 22:The First Day. **

**Simon's PoV:**

I arose, I knew I'd slept later than usual because the sun was up, it was still early but at least it wasn't before 4am. _'Wonder if Weiss is happy having a sleep in and not being awoken by castle staff early each morning.' _I thought chuckling at having learnt that the Heiress was certainly not a morning person quite early on in my tenure at White Castle. Looking to my watch I saw it was 6:30am _'good, time for a light jog before I get ready.' _I got up with the silent precision I had learnt in the _Black Fist _and changed into my gym gear and fastened my Gauntlets to my wrist. Before leaving the dorm I noted that Teal was also gone _'Seems I' am not the only early bird on the team.'_ I thought as I exited the dorm.

I quickly found out that very few teens were actually capable of being up this early. I knew I wouldn't be up so early if it wasn't such a habit. I saw a few teams jogging around or doing exercises in the grassy areas around the academy, all older teams as I hadn't seen any of them at initiation. As I jogged up the main way that led from the academy to the landing pads I saw Teal jogging back from where I was headed. I waved to her as I jogged, however I got no reply except for her to speed up her pace and I noticed her Aura flare a bit as she used it to augment her speed. _'Well if that is how she wants to play it... so be it.' _I flared my red-white aura and sped up considerably, my competitive streak getting the better of me and I began chasing Teal down.

It took a bit, as every time I got close Teal she sped up using her aura which caused me to do the same. Eventually getting tired of this game of cat and mouse I funnelled as much aura as I could into increasing my speed and dashed past Teal and up to the entrance of the dorm building and leaned against the door, smirking cheekily at my teammate "Guess I win?" I asked mockingly. Teal simply growled and shoved her way past me and began making her way into the dorm building. After she was out of sight I felt slightly lightheaded _'Ugh I did skip dinner last night so I' am certainly running on empty, especially after a 45 minute run like that.' _I thought as my exhaustion caught up with me as my aura subsided and adrenalin ran out.

I made my way back up to the dorm, on the top story of the dorm building I was thoroughly hungry by the time I got to the SNST dorm room, before I could open the door to it though I heard the door across the hall crack open _'Looks like it is time to meet the neighbours Team CRDL' _I thought, spinning on my heel to meet a team of 4 boys, all looking supremely arrogant and completely up themselves. "Well look here boys, if it isn't the resurrected one himself. Wonder how long it haunted Ozpin to get a spot here." came the taunting voice of the tallest of the group who towered over me and his teammates was large bulky boy in silver plate armour with a large bird emblem emblazoned across the front. Obviously he was trying to intimidate me as he stood over me, but I was used to this and people using their height no longer phased me in the slightest. I stood my ground and stared him down deciding to not bother being civil here, these guys were obviously a very uncivil group of thugs and I was too tired to bother pretending to be nice. "One warning, I' am a mean and nasty bastard... To piss me off is to gamble with your life, and your manhood." I said simply and venomously before turning my back on _CRDL _to unlock my door and entered my dorm before things turned violent.

Upon entering my teams dorm I saw that Sienna and Nyanza had both risen and were currently doing some final primping before they left for breakfast before class. "Teal seemed peeved and sweaty when she arrived back... what did you do? Not let her take the dominant position?" Nyanza said, causing Sienna to groan in frustration at the remark. "I Swear Nyanza! I hear one more dominatrix joke and I WILL hurt you!" I heard Teal scream from the bathroom. Nyanza chuckled "You made your choice when you decided to wield a whip and wear skin tight combat clothes! So suffer in silence!" Nyanza called back. I watched on chuckling slightly, Nyanza reminded me of the marksmen Kale and Shauno I had served with in the _Black Fist_ with his witty, perverted remarks... however with the boy in front of me unlike the marksmen there was none of the underlying hurt, fear, anger or mental and emotional instability that Kale and Shauno hid beneath their antics. This kid was just a typical 17 year old boy having fun and who didn't give a single fuck for the consequences of his actions or comments.

I still wondered where the marksmen were, Kruger and I assumed they were somewhere in Vale so my primary objective when I found time was to find them, but until then I had Team _SNST _to drive me insane. Dropping that line of thought I rolled my eyes "So how are you 2 this morning? Glad you decided to set the room up last night and get the extra sleep in the morning?" I asked humorously, my partner chuckled nervously "You weren't actually going to get us up at that unholy hour of the morning were you?"  
"Oh I fully intended to do that Sienna, I' am a man of my word. I always follow through on what I say I will do." I replied to in a sing-song voice as I went to retrieve a school uniform and groaning in frustration at the realisation I'll be required to wear a tie _'Of course... if it isn't being flung through the air as an initiation. it is giving us uniforms with ties! damn it Ozpin!' _I fumed inwardly.

After a quick shower and getting changed into my uniform (which was accompanied by much swearing due to the tie trying to hang me), we left as a team to the cafeteria about an hour before classes were scheduled to begin to give us time to bond as a team. _'Hopefully I can learn something about these people apart from the fact that Nyanza is a smartass pervert and that Teal has a massive competitive streak and hates my guts.' _I thought, hopeful that this would go well. As we entered the cafeteria I grabbed a tray and got myself a cup of coffee and some cereal before saving my team a spot by the windows that lined one side of the large eating area. Looking out the windows I could see several teams arriving for breakfast, however conspicuous in her absence was Weiss and her team. When the rest of my team finally joined me, we all sat in an awkward silence waiting for someone else to say the first words. _'Christ... where is Kale and Shauno or even Gregory when you need them? They'd kick start this group into talking... and then probably get themselves killed by Teal or another huntress. Not that I'd complain about that.' _I chuckled at the thought of the marksmen trying to flirt with a huntress and failing epically or Gregory's love of just doing anything to embarrass or infuriate me like the big brother he saw himself as to me.

Nyanza noticed my small smirk "Ok what his so hilarious it can make _'Mr Grumpy_' actually smirk?" he asked accusingly. I turned to my teammate, knowing I couldn't just dodge the question "Just thinking of the antics of a couple old friends from my days as a mercenary. Two of the funniest guys I'd ever met and they also taught me the art of marksmanship, I can smack a target 1000m away with ease thanks to them." I replied, deciding that so long as names of my former comrades weren't given out I could indulge in a bit of storytelling in order to ensure my team didn't accuse me of not letting them get to know me. This seemed to have gotten Teal and Sienna's attention.

"Finally he says something that isn't an order or a threat or a taunt!" Sienna said, throwing her arms up in mock celebration. I scowled at the axe wielder, "Hey, in my defence: you guys haven't given me much of a reason to have been saying anything else." I shot back in mock hurt trying my hardest to get along with my team. Nyanza on the other hand decided to have to cause trouble. "Man Simon, you're shooting those verbal flechettes at Sienna just as well as you shoot literal ones at her!" He said before beginning to laugh uncontrollably. Teal who obviously hadn't been made aware of this incident looked at me in horror "You discharged your weapon at a fellow student? Such poor discipline... Honestly, you call yourself a huntsman-in-training?" She scalded me. Sienna shot me a slightly grumpy look, obviously half-way agreeing with Teal but she eventually shrugged "I have forgiven him for that incident, and I expect you not to pick up the hatchet that I have buried." Sienna said calmly to Teal. I looked to Sienna and mouthed 'thanks' to her before turning back to Teal and shook my head "Just so you know... I don't consider myself a Huntsman-in-training. I' am a soldier of fortune, who is entering a new line of work at the invitation of Professor Ozpin, simple as that." I retorted, sticking with the mercenary story. Teal simply shrugged.

Ignoring her piss-poor attitude I tried to move the conversation along "So Nyanza, Sienna: where did you learn to fight, at combat school? Because I' am going to assume not everyone had combat thrust upon them like me or learnt from their family like Teal did." I asked my other 2 teammates, wanting to try and learn about them. I noticed Sienna shied away from the question whereas Nyanza jumped right into answering. "I attended only the best combat school in all of Vale: Signal Academy, more graduates of Signal are accepted into Beacon than any of the other Combat schools in the Kingdom..." Nyanza said enthusiastically, launching into a rant on his time at Signal and the hilarious antics he took part in with the blonde girl Yang.

I somewhat tuned out as I saw Velvet and whom I assumed was her team enter the cafeteria. I internally sighed while keeping my face impassive and unreadable as stone. _'Why did she have to be here... this is difficult for me as it is without her being here. More than that I' am sure finding out that I'm alive and didn't try to contact her has left her hurt. Don't worry Velv, one day I'll make it all up to you.' _ My eyes followed her as she went up to grab her food and took a seat with her team on the far end of the cafeteria. I noted a stressed look upon her face and a meekness in her stride that I didn't find to fit in with the profile of a Huntress-in-training. Seeing her like this hit me hard and made me feel quite guilty. I saw Velv look my way and our eyes met, as much as I wanted to look away and not to seem like a creep my eyes simply refused to budge from gazing into those beautiful brown eyes and note the sadness within them. I saw Velvet smile weakly at me and nod before then turning her attention back to her teammates.

Snapping out of that little moment before I began guilt tripping myself. I took a mouthful of coffee and tuned back into Nyanza's story "And then she started banging him against a table..." My eyes widened "Wait what? Sorry I got distracted for a moment... what in actual fuck is going on?" I asked after I stopped choking on my coffee. The other members of _SNST _as well as several others all looked at me with weird looks. Nyanza simply started laughing as did Sienna albeit hers was more suppressed. "Dude you came into that conversation at the exact wrong moment. I was talking about this one time Yang and I beat the crap out of some assholes who were harassing Ruby, Yang's younger sister. Not whatever your dirty mind was thinking you pervert!" Nyanza said in mock accusation. I took another sip of coffee, an evil smirk coming across my face. I was not willing to let this cheeky little shit have the last word on this. "Me, a pervert? At least I don't fantasise of my teammate using a whip on me!" I retorted loudly, so other students could hear it. This time it was Teal's turn to turn it shock, choking on a piece of toast she had. "You both are perverted asses!" Teal said indignantly as she returned to eat her breakfast, ignoring the laughter from myself, the people around us and even Nyanza who knew he'd just been burnt but could actually see the funny side in it.

It ended up being a very light-hearted start to the day, which suited me just fine. My only 2 worries were: how little Sienna actually said about her past, having shied away from my questions and letting Nyanza take over the conversation. The 2nd being Weiss not making an appearance, which I only just noted as I was leaving the cafeteria for my first class at Beacon which according to my scroll was: a 90 minute History and Diplomacy with _Dr Bartholomew Oobleck. _followed smoko then a 90 minute a spare session, 90 minute combat class with _Professor Goodwitch. _Then to finish the day is 2 hours with _Professor Port _in Grimm Studies._ 'This ought to be a very interesting day, I can use the spare to hit the gym and warm up for Combat Class.' _I thought eager to test myself against my fellow students and see just how good they were. But before the fun began I had a history class, which I didn't exactly mind: I enjoyed reading about history while I was at White Castle even if it was almost entirely the less savoury parts of history that people would much like to forget. Making my way into the classroom specified for the class. Of my team, only Sienna had this class with me, which wasn't that bad a thing... at least I'd actually get some work done without distractions from Nyanza. I took a seat in the back corner, in order to be able to observe not only the teacher but also my fellow students.

As I watched the rest of the class file in I saw Jaune and his partner Pyrrha, That dick-muncher Cardin as well as several 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students... including Velvet. _'Oh m y... I can't even go to class without seeing her can't I?' _I thought, not sure how I felt about this. I looked to her and gave her a small wave and a shaky smile, just to make sure she knew there weren't any negative feelings on my part, even though I had run from her yesterday. She waved back before proceeding towards the front of the room. I got out my books and prepared for the class, noting the lack of a teacher _'I swear if this Oobleck fellow is late, my opinion of this school will go downhill pretty fast' _I thought as I looked to my watch, seeing that it was 8:58am. Out of nowhere came this blur and all of a sudden was this unkempt, scruffy haired man with a thermos in one hand and a pile of folders in the others standing in the front of the classroom. _'Whoa, where in Remnant did that guy come from? And WHAT is in that damned coffee?' _I thought in amazement at Oobleck's entry into the classroom. He didn't interact with us, instead darting around his desk and the blackboard sorting out his notes for the day.

Just before the clock struck 9am I saw a very annoyed and exhausted looking Weiss enter the class room and with her was Blake, my good start to the morning suddenly vanished _'First Velvet, now Blake? Is there some twisted, sadistic asshole out there who just enjoys tormenting me?!' _I fumed mentally, cursing whatever cosmic entity controlled what happened on Remnant.

I watched Blake and Weiss sit down towards the front next to each other, Sienna moved across the room closer to Velvet-Faunus got to stick together I guess- and Oobleck stopped buzzing about for the first time since he arrived. "Good morning children. Welcome to my class I' am Dr Oobleck. While here you will learn the lessons of the past and how even events that happened 10, 30 even 100 years ago still affect us and are still relevant. By the end of my course you will hopefully have a competent grasp of history and how to apply it to the present in order to ensure that Vale and all of Remnant can move forward and all can prosper in peace, rather than allowing society to regress back to one of racially fuelled violence and war." Oobleck said before taking another swig of coffee... or Fuel, either one is probably as likely as the other and dashing behind his desk to grab up his copy of our assigned text.

"Now open your books to page 12: I'll assume you all have sufficient knowledge of the kingdoms and how they are run without me wasting precious time re-teaching things you should have learnt as children." Oobleck said firmly, I instantly complied opening up to a page labelled _The Great War: Freedom and equality for all? _I had read a lot at white castle about the actual military engagements, the equipment and tactics used, in other words the how, where and the when of it. But I had never much cared for Why it actually was fought, it hadn't really mattered to me at the time. At that point Dr Oobleck launched into a 70 minute lecture on the great war, spoken at such a pace that I could barely understand half the things he said, I ended up recording his voice on my scroll to slow it down and make better sense of it later. Looking around the classroom, my eyes came to rest on Blake, who was working hard trying to keep up with the vocal speedy Gonzalez that was Dr Oobleck. It seemed quite odd that she would be paying much attention to the class if her purpose here had nothing to do with actually learning anything. _'She does do a good job of fitting in here, making it look like she is actually learning and paying attention. But I see through your facade... I' am ready for you Blake, your father couldn't end me and you certainly won't.' _I thought as I stared down the back of the Faunus' head.

The lesson ended quickly enough and the first person out the door was Dr Oobleck _'He is about the fastest person I have EVER seen!' _I thought, deciding it must be a semblance thing. I walked out of the class room and waited for Sienna to exit, I was still waiting for answers from her that she had dodged at breakfast. Leaning against a wall, observing the various students leaving I saw Weiss and Blake leave the class room, talking with each other. The sight of my closest - really my only friend left- becoming friends with someone whom I was certain harboured hostile intent towards me didn't sit right with me, honestly I felt slightly angry at Weiss even though it was irrational Anger as I had left any mention of Blake's first and last names out of the journal I had allowed her to read.

Weiss waved off her newfound friend and made her way over to me, instantly noting the surly- surlier than usual that is- on my face. She frowned slightly "Something up Simon, you seem unhappy?" I looked to my friend and forced a smile "I' am fine Weiss, just had some trouble at breakfast with my team. Speaking of Breakfast: Where were you? and why were you late to class?" I asked, dodging the inquiries into my mood. Weiss huffed "My Dunce of a team leader got so caught up in decorating our dorm this morning that we only left for class at 8:55am and Blake and I were late for our first class!" Weiss whinged. My eyes went wide at the revelation that Weiss and Blake were no teammates _'This is not good... Should I tell Weiss about Blake's past? Or my part in it? hmm better not, If I do that.. it could back fire right back at me if Blake knows of my past deeds: I do NOT need that going public while I' am still breathing.' _I thought, it was then that out of nowhere my mind clicked and I began laughing despite the serious danger Weiss could be in from the Faunus in hiding.

"Oh my! did you really get Ruby as a teammate and leader? Wow, who did you piss off to get that?" I chuckled, which earned me one of Weiss' trademark scowls  
"It isn't funny! Anyway, I better go see my team for morning tea before our next classes. I'll see you later Simon, take care." Weiss said before she walked briskly off towards her waiting teammate. Blake's eyes met mine as Weiss crossed the distance between us, it caught me off guard and I instantly hardened my expression, trying to make it unreadable while at the same time trying to read Blake's expression. Which of course was as impassive as it had been the first night in the Ballroom. Not being able to glean information from her expression drove me insane. I merely nodded in acknowledgement to her, a forced action borne out of needing to try and look polite to my fellow 'student'.

Watching Weiss and Blake walk off, I turned and I saw Sienna leave the classroom chatting with Velvet, about what I had no idea. Sienna saw me and began dragging the bunny Faunus behind her to talk to me. "Hello Simon, The stares I saw you shooting Velvet's way at breakfast leads me to believe that you to know each other?" She said happily. I couldn't tell if she was genuinely trying to help me... or if she just wanted to cause me awkwardness. Velvet and I both looked at each other with extreme awkwardness, eventually I broke the silence first before it drove me mental "Yes Sienna, I know Velvet. Though it has been more than 5 years since I last seen her." I said, trying to keep my tone neutral, though I knew just a hint of sadness and regret seeped through. _'Fucking hell Sienna, you just couldn't help but meddle in affairs that do not concern you... I know you're probably trying to help a fellow Faunus out but please drop it!' _I thought furiously.

I could see that Velvet was studying my face, I knew she was looking at the scars. I touched my hands to them before turned my head to hide them "That is a story for another time Velv, We probably shouldn't be just loitering around the halls either." I said, just wanting this awkward meeting to end, but I knew I had to extend an olive branch to Velvet, I hated pushing her away. So tearing a piece of paper from my note pad I scribbled my scroll frequency on it. and handed it to Velvet "Here take this. I've probably missed a lot of changes back home, so please fill me in. Also: Please send my regards to your parents and the rest of the gang, I' am sure they'd be happy to know I' am alive." I said, with one of my few genuinely warm smiles. Velvet nervously took the paper "Thank-you for this, and I'll be sure to send your regards in my next call home. I'll talk with you some other time." She said hurriedly before scampering off. Watching her go I sighed sadly _'How could I be stupid enough to let her in... She will find nothing but pain with me around.' _I thought sadly, before turning to Sienna who was looking very annoyed at me.

"You just had a perfect opportunity to begin reconciling with someone you obviously care about deeply and you just shut her out completely!" She growled at me. I take an equally combative tone with my partner, not at all liking this intrusion into my personal life "Coming from the person that dodged every question I asked her at breakfast... One warning: stay out of my personal affairs, it is difficult enough to do this all without people who have nothing to do with my past intruding." I growled viciously, not going to tolerate this anymore. Sienna snarled at me "I' am your partner, your wellbeing became my business the moment we laid eyes upon each other during Initiation." I threw my hands up and turned away from Sienna "Just don't Sienna... I've taken care of myself this long, I can keep going." I said and I walked away. deciding to skip out on getting a quick snack and instead going straight to the locker room to grab my weapons and equipment before hitting the gym.

I spent the next hour kicking and punching the stuffing out of some poor punching bag, venting any and all anger I had about the events outside Oobleck's classroom. I knew Sienna was only trying to help, but she had absolutely no Idea what she was getting into with this. As I busted the bag's seems with a punishing kick I decided to take some time to rest before rest of the 1st years arrived for combat classes in the arena that adjoined the gyms and the locker rooms. Sitting back against a wall I slowly nodded off, a quick 20 minute nap before class, just to let me recharge my batteries. I felt a nudge against my shoulder, causing my eyes to snap open and muscle memory to kick in, I leaped up: my battle staff in hand, in its gun form ready to fire. I saw several worried looking students around me and a very perturbed looking Goodwitch. "Mr Alexander, in future regardless of whatever training you may have received in the past will exercise proper weapon discipline. That includes never aiming a weapon at another student whom you aren't engaged in a sparring match with. You aren't a soldier on a battlefield here." Came her grumpy rebuke of me. I nodded in mild embarrassment "Yes Ma'am, I shall try to avoid a repeat of this incident." I replied humbly, collapsing my weapon into its carry form and placing it back into its bandolier.

Entering into the arena we all took seats in the stands. I looked to my team. They all looked icy calm and slightly eager to be able to do some fighting, Though Sienna didn't look at me and blatently avoided me. I had to admit as was I, I looked down to Goodwitch who had her scroll out and was speaking about the parameters of our fights: based on tournament style combat based on Aura levels. Goodwitch then asked for Volunteers for the first match, half the class stood up instantly. I decided to just wait a while and observe other student's fighting style. I did this for about an hour, watching an observing, taking down notes on my scroll of any weaknesses in various people's fighting style. Eventually Nyanza grabbed me by the shoulder and grabbed me up, obviously wanting to have a match against me, to show off his _'Taunting Gambits'_ and try to beat me in a match. What he got was instead a 2v2 match: him and I v Nora and Ren.

Stepping out into the arena, Nyanza at my side I drew my staff and set it back into its gun mode and stood to the left of Nyanza. "Ok, You go for Nora, hopefully you can her weapon out of her hands before she gets a serious hit onto you, I got no idea what either of these 2 are capable of so be careful." I said, analysing our opponents. I heard Nyanza huff at me "Who needs caution, just let me worry about how to deal with the redhead. You just worry about your opponent." He replied in a eager, competitive and thoroughly annoying tone. I had to admit we were at a disadvantage. I could see from the way they moved and acted that Ren and Nora had known each other for a long while, I didn't even know how Nyanza fought going into this.

Goodwitch started the fight and Nyanza took off, flipping around Nora, shooting his ballistic knives at her, and what looked like taunting her verbally. I on the other hand stood there studying Ren with a killer's eye, I was no longer a school student in a training match, all of a sudden I was once again a Soldier on one of the many battlefields I'd fought on, in that instant my training and instincts took over. I saw Ren take out a pair of what looked like green bladed SMG's, Like Nyanza he took off in an agile form of running and began peppering me with rounds, trying to drain my Aura by blocking the rounds. _'Oh no you don't you little shit!' _I thought I lunged in while extending the forward blade on my staff, slamming into the boy with my shoulder. Following up with a cutting slash with my weapon's 45cm blade which was blocked by Ren. I disengaged and flipped back, firing off a burst of flechettes at Ren scoring several hits. _'Ha! eat that you little bastard.' _I thought as I ceased fire to lunge back in, this time with both blades on my weapon extended I began exchanging blows with Ren, trying to work out his weakness.

He was agile, strong and had extensive close quarter combat skills. I managed to slip a blow to one of Ren's wrists, knocking away one of his weapons. I smirked and went to push my advantage, only to get ambushed as Ren slipped his other weapon away into his sleep and utilise his aura to block my strikes, and then just as quickly retaliating with a quick succession of strikes to my face and throat with an open palm.

I leaped clear of the gunman, my breath raspy from the throat hits. _'Oh you bastard... you'll pay for that!' _I thought, trying to find an opening to which attack him, shaking off as much of the pain as I could, not bothering to check my aura level. I saw Ren trying to push his advantage, lunging at me and utilising his martial arts skills with almost unbearably quick strikes, I couldn't block more than half of them, lucky thing was it didn't drain my Aura very much to just take the strikes. I managed to block both his hands with a horizontal block with my staff and slam my forehead into his nose as hard as I possibly could. sending the gunman reeling, blood running out of his nose. Smirking I fired off several volley's of flechettes at him, which he blocked off with his Aura, which would have drained it severely. I also noted as he reeled back, just how long his hair was, nearly waist length.

Deciding upon my new strategy I charged in my Aura flaring angrily, Ren doing the same. But at the last moment I activated my semblance, slowing the speed of things right down. Dropping my staff I dodged ever so slightly to the left and as things sped up I latched onto Ren's hair and jerked it back, causing a whiplash effect with the rest of his body, it went rigid in the air and then slammed heavily into the ground, extending a bladed gauntlet I went to slash Ren's throat, just as my training had dictated to render the killing strike in this instance.

But the strike never landed, instead I felt my skull impact with something very hard and moving very fast. Next thing I knew I was airborne from the strike and flying across the arena. I hit the edge, dazed and falling back on my instincts _'Lob a grenade!' _my mind screamed as my hands shakily went for my webbing and latched onto one of my fragmentation grenades, I got the pin pulled but I wasn't quick enough before the hammer struck my ribs, causing me to drop the now live and armed grenade "You Hurt Ren! NORA SMASH!" I saw the berserker bomber rage as she lifted her hammer to launch a massive strike on my skull, however it never landed, The explosion from the grenade knocked Nora back and allowed me time to recover combat roll over to my staff. However I was halted by a beeping on my arm mounted scroll, my Aura was in the red due to the Aura drain in protecting myself from Nora's devastating blows and from my own grenade and I was out of the match, only Nyanza and Nora remained. I sat near a wall and decided to observe Nyanza and Nora's fight.

Nora was still incensed about what happened to Ren at my hands and Nyanza was using it to his advantage, the berserker bomber was falling for his verbal taunts about her friend and lashing out wildly with swings of her hammer and launching dust grenades at the agile Nyanza. "Come on Nora... swing at me again, look at Renny over there all exhausted and low on Aura!" he called among many other things, I could see Nora becoming sloppy, she didn't tire due to her almost boundless energy but her strikes were becoming increasingly inaccurate as her anger and protective side of her 'friend' overtook her rationality. as she lashed out I saw Nyanza hit her with several of his ballistic blades before using a teathered blade to swipe at her several times and get a wrap around the handle of Nora's weapon, but he couldn't wrestle it out of her hands, instead copping smack from the hammer he had tried so hard to get away from her and ended up sprawled next to where I was against the wall, his Aura dropping straight to red.

"The match goes to Nora and Ren from Team _JNPR._" Professor Goodwitch declared. Nyanza and I still sat sprawled in the corner against the wall of the arena. "Damn that Nora girl hits bloody hard, though I think it is just because you fucked up her boyfriend pretty badly." the sandy haired boy said to me as he groggily got up and offered me a helping hand up, I looked at the pair, and I couldn't exactly see how he could tell they were that close. "Umm Nyanza I think you're dreaming buddy with that conclusion." I replied puzzled. Nyanza rolled his eyes at me "Dude can't you see the look of affection in Nora's eyes? she his head over heels for that Ren fellow and what you did to him looked pretty damned vicious... So she went complete berserker, good job on that... you managed to piss off probably the most insane person in all of Beacon if the rumour from Initiation about her riding Ursa is true." Now that we both were on our feet we walked over to the Berserker Bomber and the Green Gunner as they made their way into the stands to congratulate them for such a good match.

However when I went to shake Ren's hand Nora shoved me away. "No, you dirty fighter have no right to shake hands with Ren! You're lucky I don't break your legs for that move!" She hissed at me, losing her usual happy mood that I had seen through out the class before our match. I raised my hands defensively "Listen up Nora: All is fair in war. There are no dirty moves or fighters: only those willing to do whatever it takes secure victory and their own survival. Ren displayed a weakness in having his long hair flying around during a fight so I exploited that weakness in order to win." I said firmly, almost condescendingly. Nora seemed ready to start a brawl in the stands however Ren placed a hand on her shoulder. "He is technically correct, People out in the real world will not hesitate to exploit any weaknesses I present to them, I thank-you Simon for pointing this out to me early, I shall correct it in future encounters." He said formally, giving my a slight head bow before dragging off his friend to re-join _JNPR_. Nyanza and I sat back with Sienna who looked happy to see me get knocked around and Teal who was chuckling "Hey boys: how's it feel to get your asses kicked by a girl?" Teal laughed, trying to insult whatever pride Nyanza and I had.

However Nyanza wasn't going to let Teal get one over on him that easily "Oh Teal, that was just a warm up for the ass _Whipping _you promised me oh dominant one." With this sudden turning of the tables Teal went bright red in the face "Nyanza for the love of everything... just shut up with that, I've known you for like 24 hours and you're already on my last nerve!" Teal said angrily at her partner, before turning to me. "Are you not going to control him? you're the leader." Came her plea for help. But I was honestly wanting to knock Teal's ego down a peg or 2. "He is your partner... you control him." I replied, just the hint of an evil smirk on my face. Teal sighed in frustration "Well just so you know Nyanza, next combat class I WILL be fighting you. Then i'll show you what happens when you mess with a Wolfsbane girl." She smirked confidently, looking forward to smacking Nyanza around.

After combat class and a lunch time spent in the infirmary getting checked out for any signs of consussion-or a fracutred skull- it was time for _Grimm Studies _with Professor Port. Once again I took position up near the back, the rest of _SNST _Joined me. It was an extrememly boring lesson, even Teal: who was the most dedicated to learning amongst my team was now head in her books... dozing, not studying this time around. I managed to keep my eyes open and listening to the inane stories that the professor was telling the thoroughly uninterested class. I ended up just opening my scroll and watching a movie named '_Bull Head Down'. _A true story about a company of Atlesian Army Rangers stuck in a hostile city during a snatch and grab gone wrong after two of their escorting bull heads were shot down over the city. After about 100 minutes of wasted time Prof. Port asked for a volunteer to display their skills, of course the first person to take up the challenge was Weiss. _'This ought to be funny, Weiss seems peeved about something and being angry while in combat can either help or severely hinder a person in combat, and knowing Weiss it is usually the latter for her.' _After Weiss left quickly to change into her combat gear and take her stance, facing a giant cage that Port had brought in during her absence I saw her team cheer her on, only for Weiss to snap at her partner &amp; leader Ruby. _'Oh so that is why she is annoyed... poor girl, doesn't even know the shitstorm she has unleashed upon herself by annoying Weiss.' _I thought in sympathy to the cloaked girl.

Professor Port opened the cage and out jumped a Boarbatusk which charged straight at the Heiress. Weiss spins out of the way whilst simultaneously landing a glancing strike on the Grimm with Myrtenaster. I see that Weiss' strike caused absolutely no harm to the armoured beast. _'Come on Weiss, fight smart... go for it's belly!' _I thought, not wanting to actually call out information that could distract her.

Weiss and the Grimm waste no time charging at each other once more, and Weiss' thrust gets Myrtenaster caught between the beast's tusks in the subsequent exchange of blows. I curse Weiss' stupidity of trying to go toe to toe with something much stronger thant her, I could tell Weiss was distracted by her leader _'Christ Weiss, if you can handle distractions from me easily enough I don't see how this girl is letting you get unfocused!' _I think_. _The Boarbatusk takes advantage of the distraction to disarm Weiss, yanking her weapon free and knocking it across the room. Once disarmed, Weiss is knocked down by her the Grimm.

As the creature barrels towards Weiss once more, she manages to skillfully roll out of the way, causing the Grimm to hit the elevated seat behind her. As the Boarbatusk is recovering, Weiss quickly regains her weapon and stands at attention for her opponent's next attack. I could see Weiss having a verbal spat with Ruby, though I didn't much care for what was said. Both parties involved were stupid for such divisive conduct in the middle of a fight, Weiss especially... she should know better. The Boarbatusk jumps up and beings to spin. As it swiftly rolls toward Weiss. The Heiress summons a glyph in the Grimm's path, causing it slam into it and fall on its back. Jumping into the air, Weiss then forms another glyph behind her in order to propel herself at the Boarbatusk's exposed belly, stabbing it with the Boarbatusk lay dying, Port began singing Weiss' praises, however Weiss didn't acknowledge them, instead storming off like the spoilt brat she had been when I had first met her. _'Great... she is even more immature than ever before.' _I thought frustratingly as I packed my stuff up and made my way out of the class room with my team.

Once out in the hall way I saw Weiss talking down Ruby in quite a vicious manner before storming off onto a nearby balcony, I decided agaisnt going and seeing her until she had calmed down a bit... I still had a splitting headache and wasn't exactly in the mood to be berated in the way that Ruby had just been. Instead I decided to send Weiss a message on my scroll making sure she was ok and inviting her to meet up and talk about it during the evening sometime. Once the message was sent I made my way to the team dorm,hopefully able to rest a bit after today. Getting to the dorms I slumped onto my bed, Ignoring an order from Teal to get up and do the readings that our teachers had assigned us for today. I tried to doze off, but was shaken awake by Teal "Nope Simon, you aren't getting out of your homework that easily... it'd go much easier if we do it all as a team." Teal reasoned, though I knew she just wanted to deprive me of my rest as revenge for not keeping Nyanza from tormenting her. So I hauled myself back up and did my homework with my team, Sienna still wasn't talking to me after how I'd snapped at her so it was quite a tense and silent homework session, despite Teal's best efforts to keep us talking about our work and Nyanza's efforts to goof off, which eventually earned him a clip around the head from Teal.

Eventually it was about 9ish by the time we had finished all of our readings, as I was about to lay down I noticed a blinking light from my scroll. It was a reply from Weiss, asking me to meet her on the roof. So up I got, attaching my gauntlets to my wrists and I made my way up towards the roof of the dorm block, upon making it up there I saw that I had beaten Weiss up to the roof. I waited several minutes leaning against a railing staring out at the fractured moon.

"Hey Simon, I' am glad you could make it. Sorry I couldn't be here sooner, had to fix up some coffee for my partner." I heard the Heiress' angelic voice behind me. I didn't turn to face her, still watching out into the distance. "Of course I'd make it _Snowflake_, I' am the one who offered. So what caused your meltdown today in front of half the school?" I asked curiously, finally turning to face her, leaning against the railing. Weiss rolled her eyes "Just please don't call me that nickname around Jaune... I don't need him using that on me. As for today, It doesn't matter: I just needed a bit of an attitude adjustment which I certainly got from Professor Port. How's things with your team going, excited to lead?" Weiss asked as she leaned next to me on the railing, looking out over the grounds.

I laughed sarcastically "Weiss, if you want to lead a team... feel free to have mine: I' am not ready to have the burden of the lives of others depending on my ability to give the right orders at the right time._SNST _is very dysfunctional at this point, none of us can communicate freely or trust each other's abilities or work well together, as Nyanza and I displayed in combat class today." I replied, causing Weiss to chuckle. "Yeah, Nora was quite unhappy about that at lunch time, especially seeing as you did pull a muscle in Ren's neck, he can barely turn it right now but no serious damage done. But I'll just warn you now: ever try that sort of move with my hair and you'll find yourself finding work as a castrato." Weiss warned playfully, I could see she was much more at ease here than she was this afternoon during class. "As for your team Simon, I' am sure you'll be a great leader: just give yourself a chance, same as I' am giving that cloaked dunce a chance to be a good leader." Weiss continued on, reassuring me of my ability. I smiled in thank-you to my friend.

"Nice fight against that Boarbatusk by the way of advice though: going toe to toe against something much stronger than you is pretty dumb, you getting tossed around by me all those time should have taught you that." I said jokingly earning me a playful punch from Weiss who rolled her eyes at me. "Oh shut up, not like I haven't managed to overpower you before!" was her lighthearted reply. I laughed at Weiss, loving one of these rare moments where she just cut loose and was very much carefree. I got an evil smirk on my face "Oh so you think you're stronger than me do you? Well I'll just see about that" I said an instant before I wapped Weiss into a bear hug and lifted her off the ground, spinning her around. "I don't think you could do this to me even if you tried." I said as I spun. I heard Weiss stiffle a laugh and smack me in the back "Put me down you big brute." She said in a happy, joking tone. I eventually put the Heiress down, both of us quite relaxed and the stresses of School forgotten for now.

We ended up sitting up on the roof for a good hour, before we both decided that staying up much longer was going to come back to bite us in the morning... well Weiss more than I though, a bit of sleep deprivation never affected my ability to do my work: only my ability to do it without chewing people's heads off. bidding the Heiress goodnight I made my way back to the _SNST _dorm, feeling a lot more at ease about everything after everything that had happened today _'One hell of a first day... I wonder what Tomorrow shall bring.'_

**A/N: **Well that was much longer than I had anticipated and went in a much different direction than originally planned. I hope you all enjoyed it: next few chapters will be more on the other Members of _SNST_. I can't stress enough how important your feedback is guys, so please review.

Also there will be more combat class scenes in the future and I WILL accept requests for any particular fights you guys want to see: they can be 1v1, 2v2 or Team v Team. So feel free to put in the matches you want to see and I'll try to write up as many as I can to put in at various times. -CC


	23. Weekend Antics

**A/N:** Hi all, CC here with another chapter of "From Hunted to Hunter" My updates may slow down over the next few months due to me going away for my summer vacation to see family and to work on my family's farm. But I'll try to update when I can.

As a couple people pointed out, these chapters set at Beacon (This chapter most of all, due to my sheer happiness at finishing up my exams for 2014): while still having some dark undertones are overall much lighter in content that during Simon's time in the _Black Fist_, this is quite deliberate on my part. Beacon could never be as traumatic as the events of Simon's early teenage years. -CC

**DISCLAIMER: **Just in case anyone forgot... I DO NOT OWN RWBY. It is Monty's sandbox, I' am merely knocking over his castles, building my own and making Nora queen of them.

**Chapter 23:Weekend Antics. Sunday, Week 2 Simon's PoV:**

"Ugh I hate you Simon... Why can't we just have a sleep in?" Came Nyanza's bitching voice as I woke him up, deciding that we can begin doing morning workouts as a team just like a lot of the older teams did. "Because the world hates you, you ungrateful shit." I barked in a evil tone, fed up with Nyanza's attitude... fed up with everything really: Nyanza took every opportunity to make some horrible joke, innuendo or prank upon Teal and I, which made Teal even more easily annoyed than usual especially towards me because I mostly left it to her to deal with it, in revenge she taking every opportunity to criticise my decisions and suggest her own in their place Which had put Teal and I at severe loggerheads over the course of our first week as a team. And then came Sienna... "Sienna! Wake up.. it is time for some light morning exercises" I said calmly, not wanting her to snap at me when she awoke, that girl really wasn't a morning person.. or morning puppy, I' am not sure which is more applicable.

"Can it Simon, I'll get up when I' am good and ready!" My partner growled, still pissed at me for the argument during the first day. The only person on the team currently not angry with me was Nyanza, and I was currently pissed at him for being such a difficult little prick with getting up at 6am and for making Teal so irritable through his constant jokes, so in short... My team was just about ready to implode, and it had only been a week. "Hurry up Nyanza you lazy shit... You need to train, lest you want to cramp up before I even get to kick your ass in our fight today?" Teal said happily, having gotten fed up with them not being chosen to fight in combat class she called him out in the middle of the cafeteria, the whole school was looking forward to this fight. Nyanza groaned "What did I ever do to deserve this... being awake before 10am on a Sunday should be a crime!" The ballistic knivesman whined as he managed to get up. Looking over to Sienna I could see that she to had gotten up and was gathering up her stuff for the training session. _'Good, step one complete: get the late risers up without getting my eyes gouged out.' _I thought, happy that I hadn't been mutilated as I thought i would have been.

Placing my gauntlets on my arms I made my way to the door which was currently being held open by Nyanza, who had a evil smirk on his face _'Oh come on... can't he go one morning without some sort of antics? I hope Weiss doesn't have it this badly with Yang' _I thought scared for my friend's safety... and Sanity...

**Elsewhere that same moment: **

"YANG HAND ME YOUR SCROLL OR SO HELP ME!" An angry and tired Weiss screamed at her teammate who had planted a red cloak wearing teddy in Weiss arms the night before in the Heiress' sleep and had taken several photos as a prank.

**Back in SNST's Dorm**

I walked out and waited, shooting several warning glares to Nyanza. But of course the bloody idiot doesn't heed my warning and did his own thing anyway, as Teal stepped out of the room she was welcomed by a firm open handed slap on the ass from Nyanza who took off bolting down the hallway... With an incensed Teal hot on his tracks swearing to disembowel the sandy haired boy. I merely face palmed "Damn it Nyanza... I honestly hope Teal knocks him down a peg or 2... that guy has no Idea of boundaries at all." I muttered grumpily, my mood was not improved one bit by the fact I was stuck with Sienna by myself. I turned to my partner who looked still half asleep and none too happy about being awake right now. "So Sienna, going to talk to me yet?" I asked, hopeful that she had once again buried the hatchet like she did with the initiation incident.

Sienna looked at me and frowned "Well are you ready to apologise for snapping at me? I only tried to help and you go ballistic." came the exasperated reply, followed by a yawn.  
"Sienna I can't help it, my life before... before what happened to my parents is something I've left dead and buried for so long, to have Velvet appear and dredge it all back up before I was ready has left me with a lot of raw emotion to deal with. I won't apologise for snapping... messing in people's private lives uninvited isn't something a good partner does, especially if that same partner refrains to mention anything at all about their time coming to before Beacon." I said, slightly berating Sienna for being hypocritical about secrecy about a person's past.

" But what I will do is not probe too much into your past if you will let me sort my own life out without your invading my personal life again." I replied, with only slight barbs to my words but no outright malice. I could see Sienna weighing up whether to accept my offer to respect my privacy or to bitch slap me for not apologising, thankfully she chose to take me up on the offer of secrecy for both of us. "So shall we go and make sure Teal doesn't outright kill Nyanza?" Sienna suggested, a shaky smile upon her petite face.

However before I could answer that I was knocked to the ground by a blur of gold quickly running down the hall, as I tried to get back up I was knocked down again by a shorter snowy white figure in a dressing gown chasing after the first person. "What in Remnant was that?" I asked as I got up, however I got my answer from the voices that came from the running pair "YANG! Come back NOW! I'll cut your hair when I catch you!" Came Weiss cry. _'Man she must be pissed if she is running around the dorm block in her Pyjamas, maybe this place has been good for her to open up and cut the stuffy snobby Heiress act.' _I thought as I dragged myself up again and took off in pursuit of the duo from Team _RWBY_. "Sienna go make sure Teal doesn't murder Nyanza please... This I got to see!" I called to my partner before I rounded the corner and out of sight.

It took me only a couple minutes to find the pair of girls, apparently Weiss had caught Yang and was currently rolling around on the ground, trying to wrestle Yang's scroll from her grasp. I leaned against a wall and removed my scroll from my pocket to begin filming the two tumbling on the ground fighting over the scroll. I could see several other students gathering to watch Yang and Weiss fight for the scroll, though the pair either didn't realise they were in a public area or whatever was on that scroll was too important for Weiss to care. But no matter what Weiss did she couldn't overpower the buxom blonde who seemed to be simply toying with the Heiress. Eventually Weiss gave up on the fight for whatever was on Yang's scroll and only just realised what had transpired during her blind rage at the Blonde. Her face took on an expression of pure embarrassment at seeing the small crowd of people witnessing her unlady-like behaviour. That look was replaced by one of fury when she saw me with my scroll out and filming. "SIMON!" Weiss shrieked, causing several people to grab their ears in pain. I knew I'd worn out my welcome so taking a page out of Nyanza's and Yang's book I turned on my heel and bolted, Weiss in hot pursuit.

I nearly made it back to the safety, but in sight of my dorm's door I felt an immobilising glyph grasp my leg , causing me to face plant into the ground making my nose bleed. "Oh come on Weiss, let's be reasonable... No reason to resort to violence here" I said, chuckling shakily as I did. secretly emailing sending the video and the video of Ruby exploding the courtyard and Weiss with it to my email account for retrieval later after the Heiress undoubtedly wipes the video from my scroll. I saw Weiss stand over me "Ok Simon, Hand over the Scroll, I'd prefer not to have to use drastic measures on my closest friend." She said in a murderously calm voice filled with false sweetness. I handed the scroll over, maybe a little to eagerly, hoping that Weiss didn't suspect that I'd backed up the videos.

Weiss gave me an angry glare as she deleted the offending file "You're just as bad as Yang... Why can't you just let me have my privacy." Weiss said angrily at me. I merely shrugged "What you do in the hallways is hardly private and we both know that, besides I think I should get to keep this, show it to all your friends at your 18th or 21st Birthdays along with whatever Yang has on her scroll as part of the age old tradition of dredging up all the embarrassing stories of one's past." I said weakly, knowing I was asking to get my ass kicked, but annoying Weiss is one of my guilty pleasures that I took every opportunity to indulge. Weiss scowled at me before handing me back my scroll now wiped of her lapse in judgement. Weiss released me from the glyph and offered me a hand up and a hanky for the blood smeared over my face, She might be annoyed at me for me goofing off, but I knew she was just enjoying not having to meet expectations or standards, even if she didn't let go to the extent I did. Weiss playfully punched me in the shoulder before walking off, no doubt to once again to try and find the buxom blonde that had began all this.

I thought about chasing after Weiss again to see what happens next but I knew I had my own teammates currently trying to kill each other, and unfortunately Nyanza probably needed me to stop Teal from dicing him up. I opened up my scroll and called Sienna, hopefully she had found the pair and stopped it getting too violent... at least until the grudge match this afternoon. Sienna answered the call and I could hear Teal going off her brains at Nyanza, who from what I could hear was laughing to the point of suffocation. "Hey Simon, found the other pair. Currently Nyanza is safe, he used his Ballistic knives like a grappling hook and took himself up a tree. Teal is still raging about him violating her." Came Sienna's voice, trying to sound serious but I knew she was getting a real kick out of seeing Nyanza suffer. "Ok Sienna, just try to keep Teal away from the annoying one until the match at noon. I'll keep Nyanza busy and we'll meet at the arena about 11:30 to give them time to prepare for the match." I replied to my partner before ending the call and grumbling _'So much for a team training session' _I thought frustrated at my ruined plans.

Making my way out of the dorm building I could see Nyanza swinging around a tree branch using his ballistic knives and tether as an improvised swing. I looked up to my carefree teammate and shook my head "What are you? a bloody monkey?" I called out to him. Nyanza didn't acknowledge me, instead he began to swing from tree to tree using his weapons. I face palmed at my teammate "Oi Nyanza, I hope those tethers snap!" I yelled out to my teammate who was really getting under my skin. Nyanza perched himself up on top of a branch in a tree near me and retracted his blades fully. "Simon, these tethers can easily hold up to 500kg... I weigh about 70, no way I'am going to be able to snap these." Nyanza called out tauntingly before jumping off the branch, completing 3 somersaults before landing perfectly on the ground.

I had to admit, I was impressed (and slightly jealous) by his agility and gymnastic abilities, I could never hope to accomplish feats like that, especially with my knee which still gave me a numb ache every time I flipped around during a match. Nyanza bowed as he recovered from his landing "Thank-you, Thank-you I'll be taking autographs now." he said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and smacked him over the head. "Mate you're lucky to be alive... I was quite content to allow Teal to beat you to a bloody pulp after you smacked her on the ass. And you WILL be apologising to her for it after the match" I said grumpily, just wishing for once Nyanza wouldn't act so immature and self centred. Nyanza simply shrugged and walked off "Whatever you say Mon Capitaine. Well we got a few hours to kill before the match, and seeing as it seems I' am not welcome near my partner at the current time. Why not go and see my friend Yang, she is always fun to be around." He said cheerily as he opened his scroll and smirked, before he began outright laughing. "Seems Yang has wasted no time in beginning her antics. Here I'll forward it to you." Nyanza said, as my scroll buzzed with a message from Nyanza. It contained the image of a happily sleeping Weiss snuggling a teddy that was wearing a red cloak, much like Weiss' partner Ruby did.

As much as I wanted to be mad at this, I simply couldn't help but smirk at the photo, it was rare to see Weiss smiling so contentedly. "Well that explains why Weiss was trying to murder your friend this morning... can't say I blame Weiss for that, especially now that this photo seems to be going viral around the academy." I replied, a slight teasing tone in my voice as I weighed up whether to do something similar with the explosion video I'd captured from the first day, but deciding better of it... lest I get impaled on _Myrtenaster _in my sleep.

"Come on Simmo, we're off to see Yang and her team." Nyanza said as he walked off back towards the dorm building. I tried to think of something else to drag Nyanza off to due to the fact I didn't want to be anywhere near Blake, but I knew it would be futile to try and convince Nyanza of doing anything except what he wanted to. So I trudged off behind my teammate and tried to hide my displeasure at going near the Faunus trying to play human.

As we reached Team _RWBY's _dorm I could hear several voices inside, none of them sounded too hostile in their tone though even through the moderately thick walls I could recognise Weiss' shrill tone when she is pissed off. Nyanza however seemed undeterred by Weiss apparent sour mood and knocked on the door. "Sup Rubes, Yang? it's Nyanza, mind letting me in?" The sandy haired kid called out in a sing song voice. Clearly he was quite close, if not brotherly close with the girls... though I had kinda worked that out on the first night, just before a giant bloody brawl started... that totally wasn't my fault.

The dorm's door opened up and out came the cloaked girl, Ruby... or as Weiss would say _The Dolt _or _The Dunce_. Who upon seeing Nyanza got this big toothy grin over her face "Well look whose suddenly become a big shot team captain." Nyanza chuckled as he ruffled Ruby's hair and walked into the dorm and I followed, currently passively observing, just like I did when I was a body guard and Weiss was out in public with me shadowing her as an unseen and passive protector. Inside the room I could see Yang listening to music and reading a comic book. Weiss was trying to study and by the look of the 2nd set of books on her bed, was also tutoring Ruby... or at least attempting to and failing judging by her exasperated look and the annoyed tone I had heard her speak with from outside. I looked around and couldn't see Blake anywhere in the dorm _'Thank dust for small mercies' _I thought, slightly relieved at not having to be near Blake at this point in time.

I heard Yang click off her music and jump down from her bunk to smack Nyanza in the shoulder and looking at him in mocking annoyance. "Nyanza Torres! Where have you been since initiation! you haven't text, you haven't called... you haven't even come to see us at lunch! Ruby has been so cut up and I've had no one to annoy except _Ice Queen_ over there! Explain yourself?!" Yang growled mockingly at her friend. Nyanza simply laughed and put yang in a headlock "I knew you missed me Yang, even if it is only because I'am just so attractive." Nyanza said with a wink to the blonde. I made fake gagging noises at the wannabe Casanova.

Walking over to Weiss' bunk and leaned against it, clearing my throat to get Weiss attention who had up until this point been ignoring Nyanza and I and had instead been doing her study. "Hey Weiss, I see you've managed to retain some sanity through your first week." Weiss looked up and smiled at me "Oh of course I kept my sanity... You just need to learn to ignore the blonde fiend over there as well as keep Ruby away from sugar and things go pretty smoothly." The Heiress said nonchalantly before sticking her nose back into her book, obviously not really wanting to save me from the combined antics of Nyanza and Yang. I rolled my eyes at the heiress, who was probably secretly wanting to see me suffer for filming her very un-lady like fight with Yang.

residing myself to not being given the mercy of even being able to do some study with Weiss to escape Nyanza I turned to face the remaining three people currently occupying the dorm, who seemed to just be catching up... even though it has ONLY been 1 week since we had arrived at Beacon, these three acted as though it had been months. So I let them have their private conversation as I slowly edged my way closer to the door in order to hopefully leave without them noticing. Unfortunately I got to within about 2ft of the door when Nyanza noticed "Oh captain... You weren't going to ditch me were you?" his smartass tone evident in every word he spoke. _'Oh you cheeky little shit... Just couldn't let me have some time to myself away from any annoyances from you or Teal or Sienna!' _I whined mentally before turning to face the trio.

"I wouldn't call it ditching... I was just here to drop you off at your babysitters while I went away and tried to resist the urge to throat punch you." I shot back, sarcasm dripping in my voice. Yang looked slightly mad that I was threatening Nyanza but the boy just laughed "Jeez Simon, you really are a cranky, humourless bastard... I can see why you're so close friends with Weiss." Nyanza said laughing and getting a high-five from a sniggering Yang and Ruby. I rolled my eyes and looked disapprovingly at Nyanza "I honestly hope Teal knocks you out... maybe it'll knock a few things you're sorely lacking into your thick skull." I retorted to my teammate. Nyanza went to respond before a book came flying across the room and smacked the smartass boy in the skull... hard. "Hey! We are not humourless, we merely just don't share your sense of the word." Weiss said from her bed.

I smirked at how feisty the Heiress could be when offended. "So Simon, Seems Weiss has taken after you insofar as having to get violent whenever you're offended." Nyanza teased. I rolled my eyes and decided to ignore the pest, instead I turned to the sisters... whom I hadn't actually spoken to before. "So Yang I saw that photo of Weiss with the teddy you planted on her. One must wonder... just why do you keep a cloak wearing teddy? Need something to snuggle and stop you being scared of the dark?" I said, my tone mischievous. Yang choke on her reply and I could hear Weiss snigger in the background, obviously happy that the blonde fiend had been burnt. I could see Yang struggling for a reply, she had obviously been caught off guard. Yang didn't look offended at all, in fact quite the opposite "Well I certainly didn't expect that as an introduction, I like your style Simmo." Yang laughed at me.

During this little exchange Ruby had slunk away into a corner, obviously slightly having become slightly uncomfortable with a stranger such as myself in her dorm. Yang also noticed her sister becoming awkward with this social interaction, I watched Yang put her sister in a headlock and drag her back into the conversation "Oh Ruby, you must stop being so shy when meeting new people. I mean it is only Weiss' friend... her only friend." Yang said Cheekily. "Hey!" I heard Weiss shrill at her blonde teammate which elicited laughs from Yang, Nyanza and even Ruby. I however managed to suppress my laugh, lest I get on Weiss' shit list. After that we spent the majority of the morning getting to know each other and trying to one up each other and swapping stories... or more to the point Yang and Nyanza telling tales of their time at Signal and me just listening and learning about the sisters and about Signal. Even Ruby eventually lost her awkwardness and joined in with a few stories (mostly related to forging her Scythe).

"Hey Rubes, Tell Simon about how you got into Beacon." Nyanza said. I had to admit this is a story I wanted to hear, how a 15 year old could get into Beacon. I saw that even Weiss looked up from her studies to listen in, though she was looking at me more than Ruby, but i didn't dwell on that fact."Umm Well, I was just at the dust shop looking through the latest weapons magazines when the place was robbed by a bunch of goons and this man in a white suit and a bowler hat who wielded a cane." Ruby began. I jumped up as soon as I heard the description of the leader. "WHAT?! You saw Roman Torchwick? Here in Vale?!" I half yelled, wanting answers. Ruby shied away slightly from my outburst and Yang got up in my face "Hey, don't scare my sister... and what do you care about Roman Torchwick anyway?" She said, her lilac eyes gaining a red tinge, warning me not to frighten Ruby again. Weiss stood up from her bed and pushed Yang away from me. "Don't get up in his face... he has a very good reason for his intense interest in Torchwick, so let him explain."

Everyone turned to me, a very curious look on their faces. I hadn't expected this eventuality and I hadn't had much time to think up an explanation that fit in with the lie of my mercenary service. I could feel the stares of curiosity burning into me. "Umm, Here this will explain it better." I said, rolling up my pants to my knee to reveal my right knee, complete with the scaring from the operation to replace and repair my knee. "See that, Roman Torchwick did that to me the night I met Weiss. He shot me point blank in the knee with his cane and it destroyed my knees internal structure." I hissed angrily, not at those around me. But at Torchwick _'Oh I' am going to kill him when I find him.' _I thought menacingly. Ruby and Yang gazed at the scar, slightly shocked at just how many injuries I had. Nyanza on the other hand just nodded in acknowledgement "So that is where those scars came from, wow Torchwick did a number on you." He said, not humour in his voice, I could see he was worrying over what could have happened to Ruby had Torchwick gotten one over on her like he had me.

"I can see you worrying there Nyanza... Torchwick wouldn't have been able to do to Ruby what he did to me, I'd already been injured badly before I engaged in combat with Roman. So I was at a disadvantage that Ruby would not have been." I replied, trying to calm my perpetually annoying teammate down before thinking about what-ifs gets to him. Nyanza snapped of his momentary worry session. We all sat in silence, a tense cloud of various emotions hanging over the group. Eventually Ruby broke the silence "What is everyone so down in the dumps for? I was in no danger from those goons or Roman." She said confidently. I shook my head at how someone so shy and scared of strangers could be able to so easily face monsters and those who threaten the world.

"Well as fun as this impromptu D&amp;M has been fun, but my match with Teal starts in 40 minutes and I need time to warm up. So whose ready to see me fight the dominatrix?" Nyanza said full of confidence, his worry and uncertainty all but forgotten. I rolled my eyes "You're just going to make Teal angry speaking like that about her." I reminded my teammate. Nyanza simply smiled at the prospect of Teal being angry "Good."

In the arena Teal and Nyanza stood opposite each other. Teal had her whip unfurled and Nyanza was flexing his arms and about 50 students had gathered in the stands to watch the match. I had ended up sitting by Teams RWBY and JNPR with Sienna to watch the match, Blake was still not with her teammates, which I was thankful for... Ruby and Yang were quite nice once you got over Yang's over protectiveness of Ruby and her mischievous antics and Ruby's shyness and well it is hard to explain Ruby, she is an odd little girl with many paradoxes about her. I turned my eyes to my teammates in the arena. I could hear Nyanza taunting Teal about something, I could almost feel the anger seething off of Teal at this point as she ignited her whip with red dust and the match referee Professor Oobleck began the match...

**Third Person PoV: **

Teal moved forward several feet and turned on her heel and lashed out with the red glowing whip, throwing a wave of red flame towards Nyanza who shot out one of his tethered blades into the wall to his right and retracted it pulling Nyanza out of the way and towards the wall. "Come on Teal, you really think something like that is going to be able to beat me? You need to try harder." Nyanza taunted the girl. Teal snarled and proceeded to send several more waves of flame at Nyanza at different angles to surround Nyanza in all directions. Nyanza attempted to but failed to escape the flames, instead having to just take the hit and hope it didn't drop his Aura too much. After Nyanza took the hit, his Aura had dropped by 1/3, it was clear that Teal's dust abilities that she conjured through her whip packed a substantial punch.

Nyanza clicked a switch to untether the blades and shot 2 blades at Teal who flicked her whip and sliced the blades flying towards her with the dust imbued whip. Teal clicked something on her whip and the red flame dust was replaced by the Yellow electric dust, Teal then charged to within about 3m of Nyanza and began flicking the whip, trying to land a blow that would electrocute Nyanza into submission. The sandy haired boy however took to a similar attack style, shooting out one of his tethered blades at Teal and flicking his wrists to control the movements of the blade: trying to cut Teal or latch onto her weapon and disarm her. This continued on for about 45 seconds before Nyanza shot a blade at Teal which she had to block with her Aura as the blade moved too fast for her to dodge.

As she stood stunned from the blade bouncing off the Aura protecting her Face, Nyanza delivered a punishing spinning kick to her face. Teal back flipped several times to escape Nyanza's surprise assault. Nyanza however didn't follow up his assault, instead retracting his blades fully and leaning against a pillar near where there fight had taken place. "Hey Teal, you ready to actually try fighting yet? You're making bored right now." He said in the most annoyingly taunting tone possible.

Teal's aura flared as she got even more infuriated and reignited her whip with a silvery dust and flicked it several times at Nyanza, each flick creating a cutting blade that flew towards the boy. Immediately following the blades, Teal charged in not wanting to give Nyanza any time to react to her next attack. However Nyanza shot a tethered blade straight up into the ceiling and retracted the tether to haul himself up to the roof. "Nice try Teal, you were just a little slow... Just like you always are." Nyanza taunted as he dangled from the ceiling. Teal was about to unleash volleys of the cutting silver blades that the silver dust on her whip created but Oobleck stopped her "Sorry child, but I can't allow you to damage the ceiling for the safety of the other students." He said firmly before turning to Nyanza "You have 10 seconds to return to the ground or you'll be disqualified from the match." Oobleck ordered.

Nyanza did as he was commanded, shooting his other tethered blade into another part of the ceiling and used it to vine swing himself at Teal, poised to deliver a massive kick. Teal saw this coming and took changed the dust coating from silver to grey, she waited for Nyanza to get close enough and flicked her whip up and created a large stone in Nyanza's path. The boy kicked straight through the obstacle and detached the tether from his right gauntlet that he had swung down on. Teal flicked her whip, using the brown dust to propel cricket ball sized rocks towards Nyanza, striking him with several. Nyanza retaliated by shooting 4 more knives at Teal, striking with 3 of them.

By this time both fighter's auras were in the orange, only 1 or 2 decent clean hits away from dropping into the red and losing the match. Nyanza was looking very casual and not seeming to be taking the fight seriously. While Teal looked almost too angry to think rationally. Teal selected the red dust again to coat her whip and except this time instead of merely glowing red, the whip itself was on fire with which Teal used to slash frantically and wildly at the taunting Nyanza who shot 3 of his remaining knives that he had loaded into his gauntlets (each gauntlet carried 6 knives loaded) back at Teal before he used his one remaining tether to latch onto a far wall and escape from Teal's assault once again.

Teal turned to face Nyanza who stood completely open leaning against the edge of the arena "Hey Teal, are you sure you're from a famous family of hunters? Because first years at Signal could beat you... your parents and siblings must be so ashamed." Nyanza once again taunted. This time Teal lost it completely. Igniting her whip with Yellow dust Teal charged the caught off guard Nyanza and lashed out, catching Nyanza around his neck with the whip, turning Teal's weapon into a makeshift noose: a noose that Nyanza found out was covered in serrated spikes only a cm or so long but nonetheless cut into his skin and also electrocuted him due to the electric dust coating and reacting with the whip. As Nyanza strangled on the whip he managed to fire off his last 2 blades (1 tethered, 1 not) both at the hand holding Teal's whip. As teal was so angry and focused on seeing Nyanza suffer she didn't notice him fire off the blades until the untethered blade knocked her whip loose and the tethered one was wrapped around the whip's hilt and pulled from her grasp. Disarmed of her weapon Teal was vulnerable but however just before Nyanza could land his intended kicks and win the match Oobleck blew a whistle "Match: Teal. Nyanza's Aura levels are now too low to safely continue. Now shake hands as partners and fellow students." Oobleck ordered, hoping that the pair hadn't been torn completely apart by the bitter taunts Nyanza had thrown in this match, but Oobleck decided not to address it directly... that was a job for their captain. Nyanza and Teal approached each other and Nyanza held out his hand "I hope my taunts didn't offend, they are just part of my fighting style" The boy offered as a weak excuse for his conduct in the match. Teal slapped his hand away and then smacked Nyanza in the jaw before storming out of the arena.

**Simon's PoV:**

That night It was tense back in our dorm, Nyanza and Teal had finally been forced to come back to the dorm by Oobleck and I so that I could try and repair some of the bridges between the other half of Team SNST. "Nyanza, I have to agree with most of Teal's side of this... insulting her family was just way too far. I get the taunting, I really do... an angry opponent is more easily manipulated." I said, scoldingly yet also understandingly... Nyanza was used to taunting opponents and then using their anger against them. "So Nyanza... I believe you owe Teal several apologies." I added on firmly, my tone ordering, not asking. Nyanza threw up his arms "I don't see why I need to apologise... All i did was follow my fighting style as I have for years, no one else has ever chucked such a fit over them." Nyanza replied stubbornly.  
"Well all those people were your friends and knew your style... we've known you all of a few days and you have insulted Teal's family, something she holds very dear!" Sienna threw back at the stubborn boy. Teal stayed quiet in all of this, obviously she was very angry and very hurt at the idea she could be bringing shame to her family. I'd had enough of this "Nyanza... Apologise to Teal now! I growled, my tone full of venom, my fists raised and ready to strike.  
Nyanza however was unswayed "I did nothing wrong... Teal is just too emotional and susceptible to my tactics. I didn't mean what I said one bit- *SMACK* My fist collided with Nyanza's jaw. "Apologise... or do I need to hit you again?" I growled, now treating Nyanza like someone I was interrogating and an apology was the information I wanted. Nyanza groaned in pain and finally relented "Fine, fine, I'll apologise... just don't hit me again you psycho." Nyanza growled at me before he turned to Teal and tried to smile at his partner "Teal I' am sorry for insulting your family and insinuating that you had brought shame to your family and your famous name." Nyanza said with dubious sincerity, however it mattered not to Teal who looked up at her partner Her eyes glistening and voice shaky "So I' am not a disgrace to my family?" I looked at this display curiously... Teal since I had met her had been nothing but confident in her abilities and extremely proud of herself and her family, yet here I saw her acting like she was a small child wanting compliments from her mummy, I found it both humorous and worrying at the same time. "Not at all Teal... you're a great fighter." Sienna said to Teal, with all the sincerity she could muster.

"Ok you all, before this gets to sappy, try and get some sleep... training begins at 0600 tomorrow, that means wake up is 0530." I said, not having given up on getting the team training together. Everyone was too tired to argue and began making preparations for bed and I slipped out of the dorm for a bit of time to myself up on the roof, Weiss wouldn't be joining me tonight, which was the first time she hadn't spent time with me up here since our first night in our dorms but I didn't mind it. I looked at my scroll, I hadn't heard from Kruger in over a week... something that the _Old Man _wouldn't allow to happen by choice, to miss out on his weekly reporting. I was kind of worried for my former commander but I knew trying to contact him wouldn't do any good. So instead I typed out a message to Sanderson asking if he knew why Kruger had missed his scheduled check-in, I also informed Sanderson and asked him to tell Kruger that Roman had been confirmed as being in Vale... I knew both of them would want to _Have a chat_ with Roman about his treatment of their squad. Once the message had been sent I paced the rooftop for about 5 minutes before heading down to the dorm, hoping Sienna had been able to keep the peace while I had been gone.

**Somewhere in the Vacuo Desert: Ty Kruger's PoV:**

It had been a slippery slope to end up here, first just an acquaintance, then I was advising them, then training them... now I had joined the Militia and now had command of the newly formed 4th Long Lange Desert Raider Squadron of the Vacuo militia. That meant there was more than 150 men and women under my command, much more than the 8 men I had used to lead and I was determined not to fail these men as I had my last command. As we drove over the desert dunes, our way lit only by the full moon and our night vision. My Squadron was mounted on heavily armed, mobile jeeps and spread across several hundred square kilometres searching for a band of dust raiders who had hijacked an airship carrying dust to Vacuo from a small quarry between Vacuo and Vale in order to retrieve the shipment of the vital resource. Dust trains were often raided but the this is the first time an airship had been taken... which had resulted in an entire raider squadron as well as several bullheads being sent to find it. "Colonel Kruger, This is Mamba 2-1. We've got a hit on thermals about 5km East of your position." I heard the call from the bullheads and I directed my driver to head East as I got onto the radio to signal for the rest of the Squadron of the development.

about 10 minutes later we arrived at the coordinates, it seemed it hadn't been a hijacking... the Airship had been blown out of the sky, it's hull punctured in several places that I could tell at first glance were caused by advanced AA missiles. The ship's crew and cargo all blown to shreds. I surveyed the smouldering wreck, it had been 3 days since we'd lost contact of the ship, it had taken 2 just to arrive in the area where it had been lost, so there was slim hope for survivors. I shook my head and frowned "Set up a perimeter! we're to hold this area until the investigation team arrives! Roll out Raiders." I ordered over the Squadron radio frequency.

The next morning a team of crash investigators had arrived by bullhead. I made my way to the head investigator, whose name escapes me. "There is no way this was the work of dust raiders, the dust tanks were destroyed by the impact of the missiles." I observed, having fought against dust raiders before during my time in the Atlesian Military. The investigator shrugged "not my area of expertise, my job is limited to how this ship crashed, not why or who made it crash." came the almost robotic reply. I threw my arms up and walked off, not wanting to deal with people like that _'Where is the marksmen when you need them... damn they had some good pranks sometimes.' _I reminisced happily about the memories of Rum Squads' off time. I still worried about where those 2 were, I had a responsibility to find them... even if as usual it would be poor Simon who had to do the actual work.

My 2nd in command, Major Silver waltzed over with a scroll in hand to rouse me from day dreaming or dozing off like the 60 year old I was. "Well we can rule out dust raiders... they would never take down the ship and lose its cargo. What about the rebels that roam the wilds between Vale and Vacuo?" he asked. I shook my head "Nah, they have AA missiles sure, but only small handheld ones capable of taking down bullheads and not larger airships." I replied, trying to piece together just why someone would destroy and not steal this dust, it made absolutely no sense... and yet I had the feeling that this wasn't the last airship we were going to lose this way, Something was amiss and I resolved to find out exactly who was behind this and why.

**A/N: **I hope you all enjoyed seeing Nyanza and Teal fight it out. if you have any questions about Nyanza's weapons or anything else at all... don't be afraid to ask me if something crosses your mind or if you have comments or ideas for me. I'll do my best to answer (without giving out spoilers haha).

Also I' am still taking requests if anyone would like to see any particular characters fight during combat class... I've got a couple requests so far and they will be coming out in the next few chapters.

1 last thing: I' am going to include physical descriptions of Team SNST here, just in case you guys have trouble trying to picture them:

**Simon**: approx 175cm. chocolate brown hair dual facial scars along right side of the face running from either end of his eyebrows running down either side of his right eye, over his right cheek and ending at his lower jaw. Blue-Gray eyes. solid muscled build. walks with a slight limp in his right knee.

**Nyanza:** approx. 164cm, scraggly sand coloured hair with scrawny agile build

**Sienna:** petite and well proportioned, an overall very beautiful girl of 165cm. Floppy dog ears and Tail. with Auburn hair town to her shoulders tied into a braid. her tawny ears and tail stand proudly for all to see, not hidden at all.

**Teal:** blonde hair with Teal tips, stands 169cm tall with a sturdier, more bulky build than Sienna, tanned skin from a lifetime in the outdoors. a faint scar on her right calf

I hope that helps you all -CC


	24. Complications

**A/N: **I had quite a few questions PM'd to me after the last chapter, which I greatly appreciate: I love being asked questions about my story and I' am always happy to answer. I decided to share the answer of one particular question here. That question came from **xThatOnePersonx **and had to do with where my inspiration for "From Hunted to Hunter" came from.

The answer is simple: Theories. Blake made a few comments in Volume 1 about the business practices of the SDC and about the White Fang's change in leadership and methods. Those comments from Blake got me thinking and that got me writing my theories on the White Fang and the SDC. And from there the story just kind of grew a life of its own with the Black Fist and the many colourful characters that Simon has met along the way.

Speaking of those colourful characters: I also had some people losing track of them or forgetting them, so as an aid I shall be adding in at the end of this chapter short Bio's for the more important OC's that will be popping up (apart from SNST). -CC

**Chapter 24. Complications: Monday Week 2, Simon's PoV:**

I awoke slightly later than usual, luckily Sienna had been able to keep the peace between the warring pair that was Nyanza and Teal. Even with that small mercy I couldn't help but let my mind wander to where my former squadies were and what was happening in the world currently, I had been so busy with my studying and trying to make SNST work together I hadn't even been able to check the news reports concerning The White Fang or Black Fist since my arrival here a week ago. So instead of getting up to train I lazily opened up my scroll and clicked for the news, I did not expect a photo of me with my parents at age 12 and a photo of my old home that apparently was now a memorial to be the first thing I see in the _Vale Times_ with the headline **'Alive and Well? Teen Thought Dead Resurfaces at Beacon' **I read through the article, it didn't have much to it: Mainly a confirmation that I was the same boy who had disappeared 5 years beforehand and that Professor Ozpin had invited me to Beacon, though the _Times _had no details of what I had done for 5 years and that Beacon representatives or myself could not be reached for comments or interviews.

_'Christ... I've made a massive miscalculation with this... now my damned face is all over the damned news! I should have foreseen this ... stupid, stupid me.' _I fumed mentally, having already had enough of the rumours and constant questions I got asked in the halls about my past... but now all of Vale would be wondering by the looks of how many comments there were to the article: Most were worried for my safety and were glad to see me alive after the tragedy that befell my parents. Others spouted theories on where I had been: Ranging from having ended up in a village outside the kingdom through to ending up in Mistral or Vacuo. Surprisingly not one commenter thought I'd done anything sinister or even went to Atlas, Though I wondered if anyone from Atlas may recognise me and spill the beans on what I had done. _'I need to see Ozpin, maybe he can sort this mess out... he is a powerful person in Vale.' _I thought somewhat panicked. I quickly showered and put on my school uniform before making my way towards the tower where Ozpin's office lay.

I stood in the elevator and was ushered into Ozpin's office, I could see gears everywhere in the structure of the man's office, even his chair. "Ahh Mr Alexander, interesting articles in the news today wouldn't you think?" came the slightly humoured voice of the headmaster. I stared at the gray haired man "I find it more worrying than interesting, I' am just glad they haven't gotten a shot of my current face. Last thing I need is people who maybe hunting me not only knowing I' am in Vale but also having a face to put to the name." I replied frustratingly. Ozpin took a sip out of his coffee and nodded understandingly.

"I can understand your apprehension about this. You have spent your entire teenage life in the shadows, a ghost if you would." I growled at the mention of me being a ghost, but Ozpin ignored it. "And now you've been put into the spotlight when you just wanted peace to go about your life, I can see why you're frustrated. However this all came about by the choices you have made: You chose to come to Beacon under your real identity rather than a cover, did you not expect this would eventually get out. You may not know it... but the death of your parents and the apparent death of you were the catalyst for a chain of events that changed the face of both Vale and indirectly also Atlas. And as such, you suddenly coming back from the dead is big news within Vale" Ozpin said in a matter-of-factly tone.

I processed that, thinking back to a conversation with Lachlan during my first mission with Rum Squad when he had said something similar to this about my family being a catalyst for a short but bloody war between the Kingdom of Vale and the White Fang. I nodded slowly, understanding what Ozpin was saying: I had to deal with the consequences of my choices. Which was something I knew I actively avoided if I chose wrong. "I get that, but how did they find out? I mean you weren't behind the news outlets finding out?" I asked, an accusing tone in my voice Ozpin chuckled and shook his head "Beacon academy does not publish comprehensive student lists except for each year's graduation list. So it would have been a student, they do talk to their families you know." Came Ozpin's smug reply. I grumbled angrily, it would be impossible to find out who spilled the beans, until I remembered that I had asked Velvet to send my regards to her parents. _'Ugh I' am an idiot... total bloody idiot.' _I thought before the sound of Ozpin clearing his throat got my attention once more.

"One more thing before going about your day Mr Alexander: Your team, how are you handling the burden you've been shouldered with? Professor Oobleck says there maybe conflict brewing within SNST?" Ozpin inquired: an inquisitive, knowing look upon his face. I ummed and ahhed for a moment, trying to come up with an answer "We had a slight issue with part of Nyanza's fighting style and the affect it had on his partner, nothing that a bit of 1v1 in the arena can't fix" I replied, fully intending on beating some sense and empathy into Nyanza's thick, empty skull And maybe for my own personal enjoyment after the stress he caused me with the whole thing. I saw Ozpin looking disapprovingly at me "Simon, you can't just resort to violently pummelling your teammates every time disobey or annoy you, regardless of what the Black Fist practices were for insubordination or internal conflict." The Headmaster said sternly, taking a sip from his coffee. I sighed, once again my time with the Fist reared its ugly head in my habits and behaviour. "I shall try to not resort to such physical methods of conflict resolution among my teammates." I replied with absolute sincerity (an exception being the beating I STILL intended to give to Nyanza)... anyone else on the other hand, would receive no such mercy. "I advise you tread carefully with your team, just remember in battle it will them who have your back so you need to trust them and they you. A Team can't function properly if they follow their leader through fear and not loyalty and trust." Ozpin said, dismissing me from his office. I nodded and left quickly.

Upon returning to my team's dorm It was now 7am and I saw that Teal and Sienna were not in the dorm, Teal was probably training and I had 0 idea where Sienna was. That left just poor, poor Nyanza in the dorm who was still asleep. Smirking evilly I silently changed into my training gear (Combat boots, camo pants and a Green T-shirt) and walked over to the slumbering taunter. I drew a deep breath and leant into Nyanza's ear "COOOOOOOOOO-EEE!" I yelled into his ear. A Coo-ee call could be heard for miles and miles around, having it sounded off right next to ones ear is very disorientating. Nyanza jolted up and fell out of his bed. I leaned over his still half asleep form "OK you little shit! up you get, you and I have a bit of 1-1 training to do, you won't need your weapons so leave those gauntlets here!" I yelled at him intimidatingly. The sandy haired boy was disorientated and tried to stand up, but ended up flat on his ass again.

"Come on Nyanza... where's your smartass attitude now! It worked great against Teal for sure... but she is emotionally delicate... me on the other hand, I've been in a permanent state of anger for 5 years, so your petty taunting have no affect on me. No UP UP UP!" I continued to harass my teammate until he managed to scramble up and grab his combat gear and make his way into the dorms bathroom to change. Once he emerged, still looking very dishevelled I had him running through the halls and across campus to the gym where some sparing mats were kept. "Ok Nyanza... you're probably wondering why we're here without our weapons. Answer is simple... we're going to have us and old fashioned bare fisted boxing match. First one down for the 10 count or to bleed is the loser." I deadpanned. Nyanza blinked in astonishment as I raised my fists to him. "Oh yeah Nyanza, fists only. so no: Head buts, elbows, kicks. Punches only." I said smirking _'Oh I' am going to enjoy this so damned much.'_ I thought as I made a _ding ding _noise and shuffled forward in a southpaw boxing stance.

Nyanza raised his hands, obviously having never done much boxing in his life as his stance was a shambles his arms were too far apart and dropped too low which I exploited with a left uppercut right into his chin. Nyanza stumbled back and I pursued him launching basic Right-Right Jabs followed up by a left straight. Nyanza hit the mat within about 30 seconds, having been totally overwhelmed by my offence. I stood back and began the 10 count. My opponent got up at the 6 count. This time he kept his arms up but they were a little too high.

So I began pounding the sandy haired boy's kidney's with a flurry of lefts and rights. Nyanza managed to land a few blows to my chest but he was already severely weakened from both his match yesterday and from the extreme pummelling he had been dealt already by me. Nyanza didn't try to back away from me, he tried to toe to toe with someone 11cm taller than him and must was about 15kg heavier than him, it was admirable but stupid and I made him suffer for his stubbornness. As Nyanza went to strike me he left himself open, I blocked his hand away with my right hand and landed a punishing left hook to his temple which sent the boy reeling to the ground. I once again began the 10 count, but it was obvious to me he wasn't getting up after that highly one-sided beat down.

I hit 9 and somehow Nyanza had managed to scramble up and assume his stance once more. I shook my head "You're as bloody stubborn as I' am Nyanza.. I'll give you points for that but you really should have just stayed down." I said as I assumed my stance against the lanky right hander. Nyanza began to get light on his feet, springing around on the balls of his feet whereas I fought rather flatfooted and more of a brawler but I was still quite mobile. I threw a couple jabs which Nyanza dodged and he retaliated with a few jabs of his own that I blocked, though one did connect with my face. I stepped back for a moment before coming back into the fray letting loose with several jabs to Nyanza's chest and when he bent over to cover his chest I unleashed an uppercut into Nyanza's nose with my dominant left hand. Nyanza reeled back, drops of fresh blood dripping out of his nose.

I smirked and dropped my hands, which by this point were quite sore from the fist fight. I looked to my teammate who now had several bruises and a bloody nose "Ok that's the match.. go get yourself cleaned up Nyanza, hopefully I beat some sense into that idiot head of yours." I said, my tone not malicious, but still annoyed and a bit teasing. Nyanza flipped me off and made his way out of the gym probably to the nurses' station to make sure his nose wasn't broken. I on the other hand headed back to the dorm to hit the showers and get ready for breakfast.

Upon reaching SNST's dorm I saw Sienna and Teal inside, Teal still looked very dejected but had a weak smile upon her face, which was enough for me to know my input wasn't needed seeing as Sienna seemed to have it under control. So I simply ignored the two and grabbed up my school uniform and made my way to the bathroom. Returning about 10 minutes later I saw Nyanza had returned with and ice pack held to his nose "Have a little _Accident _there did you Nyanza?" My tone threatening. The girls looked from Nyanza to me, wondering what was going on between him and I. Nyanza chuckled "Yeah, an _Accident_. I was mucking around on the stairs and fell" He said, eyeing me off as he did. The girls didn't particularly care, though I saw Teal's face light up a bit at seeing Nyanza black, blue and red. I looked to my watch and saw it was about 8am I clapped my hands "Ok people, time for breakfast... Nyanza you can join us once you've cleaned up." I said as I fixed my gauntlets to my arms, still not trusting this place enough to go anywhere unarmed unless absolutely necessary as it was this morning to see Ozpin and fight Nyanza _'Hopefully he got the message I was trying to send to him'_ I thought as I walked to breakfast not realising I was about to get bombarded with questions about the news articles.

**Friday, Week 2: Simon's PoV:**

After spending most of the week avoiding the several dozen people asking me stupid questions about my past, I had finally gotten Team SNST together for some after class training away from probing questions. Needless to say in the Valean summer it was much hotter than anything in Atlas and I was certainly feeling it. I'd started out in full combat gear: short sleeved undershirt, Long sleeved over shirt, pants, boots, body armour, webbing, helmet. But I couldn't handle the intense work out in the afternoon sun and I halted the training after only 40 of the 90 minute session I had planned "Ok people, hit the showers that's enough today." I said as I just about emptied my canteen over my face. Nyanza laughed at me "Seems our brave captain here can't handle the heat in all that thick armour made for the chilly conditions of Atlas." He chuckled at my exhaustion as he walked towards the dorm building. Teal was still very quiet but gave me a small supportive thumbs up, obviously I'd gained some brownie points from her for beating down Nyanza. _'Jeez... do friendships between teenagers always shift so quickly? Are they really that fickle?_' I quizzed myself internally seeing as Nyanza and Teal had both done 180's in their attitude to me.

Once I'd finished my canteen I stripped off my webbing and body armour and unfastened my helmet and outer uniform shirt. Turning to Sienna with my best attempt at a puppy dog face "Mind helping me with my gear?" I cooed sweetly. Sienna rolled her eyes at me "You think your horrible attempt at puppy dog eyes will work on a dog Faunus? Carry your own gear partner." She said sarcastically before punching me in the shoulder and joined the other 2 in heading towards the dorm. I grumbled before slinging my webbing and armour over my shoulder and beginning to my way back to the dorms. On the way I saw Team RWBY, this time however they had Blake with them. I kept my head down, hoping that RWBY (Yang In particular) would not say anything. However of course whatever asshole controlled the universe just had to have it in for me today.

"Hey Simon." Weiss called out to me happily, obviously things in Team RWBY were less tense or divisive than in SNST. I waved lazily at her "Hey Weiss, Ruby, Yang... and Blake." I replied tiredly, my tone slightly hostile to the Faunus-in-hiding however I don't think she noticed. Weiss looked at me curiously "You look beat, been working yourself too hard?" She asked me looking my sweaty, ragged form up and down. I heard Yang laugh and I braced myself for a bad joke. "Of course he's been _WORKING _himself sooo hard to beat for you Weiss." she said making a up and down motion with one of her hands. I rolled my eyes at Yang's crude humour and attempts at word play: having been used to jokes about masturbation, sex and just about every other vulgar topic during my time with _Rum Squad _and as such wasn't affected by perverse humour. Ruby didn't seem to understand what Yang was implying and Blake stifled a small laugh at her partner's perversions.

Weiss however was going very red in the face from anger at Yang's implication. "YANG XIAO LONG! Are you implying sexual feelings between Simon and myself y-you you blonde perverse FIEND!?" Weiss accused angrily. Yang simply laughed and I shot Yang an angry glare "Yang as much as I can appreciate the odd dirty joke. I advise going easy on Weiss, she may not share our humour." I replied, feeling very awkward about this conversation. "Aww Weiss. Having trouble admitting your attraction to the spunky bodyguard that you spent a year with at a castle? Sounds very romantic" Yang said ruffling the Heiress' hair. I could tell she was being sarcastic with every word and I suddenly felt very self conscious at this point in time. _'Stupid teenage hormones.' _I thought to myself, annoyed at this entire situation. "Yang! I'll make this very clear... Isn't and never was anything sexual or romantic between me and Simon. We had a professional relationship as employee and employer." Weiss snapped at the blonde. I was feeling extremely awkward during all this, so slinging my gear back over my shoulder I began to move down the hall towards my team's dorm "It has been wonderful talking with you all... especially you Yang. But I really should get going." I said quickly and half sprinting away, ignoring the fact my helmet fell off my head and got left on the ground, I also ignored the fact a Black haired Faunus was the one who picked it up noting the beat up condition of the helmet as well as faint bloodstains.

That night as I spent my usual chill out time up on the roof I was extremely frustrated about not having heard from Sanderson or Kruger at all this week, I was beginning to feel very isolated without my trusted mentor figures there to check up on me every now and then. I browsed the news on my scroll, completely ignoring anything about me... it was all hollow, fact less bullshit anyway. I finally found an article on the Black Fist up in Atlas.

_The Atlesian Wing of the Black Fist still operating in the Atlesian Highlands has claimed responsibility for the massacre of over 100 suspected White Fang operatives in a public square. This comes as The 1st Armoured Division commanded by Major General Ironwood was replaced by the Atlesian Airborne Division that has just completed specialised Counter Insurgency (COIN) training to route the final estimated 750 Black Fist fanatics hiding in the Highlands Where Martial Law has been declared. General Ironwood has for his service in combating simultaneously the White Fang and Black Fist been promoted to full General and made Chief of Staff of the Atlesian Military. It has been estimated that as many as 75,000 people including nearly 47,000 Faunus and 1800 Atlesian soldiers has been killed in the last 5 years of conflict between Black Fist, White Fang and Government Forces. The Black Fist while near disintegrated has been succeeded by several smaller gangs all over Atlas including in the capital as well as splinter groups that according to our sources have been set up in Vale and Mistral, it is unknown if the group has made any headway in the more racially tolerant Vacuo. If our sources are correct it could put at risk the hundreds maybe even thousands of Black Fist deserters living in these kingdoms._

I looked through the article again trying to form an opinion on it. I thought it was good that the Fist and Fang were being taken down, however I noted he severe deprivation of freedoms and civil rights by Atlesian Forces in Conflict Areas. But I mainly paid attention to the last few lines, hundreds of deserters in Vale, maybe thousands of them... if the Fist really was in Vale each one of them, especially me was now in danger... I heard footsteps approaching _'Must be Weiss coming to see me.' _ "Hey Wei-"

I was surprised when instead of seeing my friend I instead saw Blake, my blood ran cold and I was instantly on guard. I had my gauntlets with me should Blake be here to exact some sort of revenge upon me for her father. However I noted that Blake was both unarmed except for.. my helmet and seemed to be dressed for bed, not combat. "Weiss said you normally come up here of an evening." She said deadpanned, not an ounce of emotion in her voice. I made a mental note to discuss with Weiss about why she gave out part of my routine, the only part where I' am really vulnerable to attack. "I See." I answered equally deadpanned and guarded, wondering what the hell the Faunus wanted. "You dropped your helmet when you made your escape from Yang's antics this afternoon." Blake stated, her tone softening just a bit. I stared at the helmet studying all the dents underneath the bloodstained and patched cloth lining.

"Thanks Blake, but I don't see why you had to bring this all the way up here when you could have just dropped it off at my dorms." I replied, wondering where exactly this conversation was going. Blake began running her fingers over the patchwork I'd stitched onto the lining to cover tears and holes made in combat as well as the bloodstains. "I'd like to know what you did in Atlas to end up with such tattered equipment before you went to work in that reprehensible organisation that Weiss is Heiress to." Blake asked bluntly, thrusting the helmet into my chest. I stared down the Faunus girl. "I'll tell you the same thing I told my team and anyone else who had asked me. I was a mercenary protecting neutral villages in the northernmost parts of the Atlesian Highlands fighting both White Fang and Black Fist Forces, killing a lot of them." I snarled the last part. Blake however was not deterred or intimidated by my tone of voice. "Hmm interesting, I read a lot about the war up there... nowhere was mentioned neutral mercenaries." She said, probing my responses. My mind went into overdrive _'Oh shit, shit, shit! she knows!" _my mind screamed and I instantly went on full alert, watching her every move. "Well we tried to keep out of the news... we found that not committing atrocities like Fists and Fangs did tends to work very well." I replied, working very hard to keep the anxiety and other telltale signs of lying out of my voice and behaviour. Blake nodded slowly, her deep amber eyes studying my blue-gray ones for any sign of lying or hidden meaning. I could tell that Blake didn't believe anything I was saying but I knew she also wasn't in a position to call me out on it and I think she realised it. "Well I'd certainly like to know about these _Mercenaries_ you served with sometime. Good night Simon." She said only slightly angrily before turning on her heel and walking away back off of the roof. I sighed _'This is getting more complicated every day.' _ I thought as I stared out at the broken moon.

**Monday, Week 3: Simon's PoV:**

The weekend had passed quickly and without anymore incidents with Blake, Though Yang did seem to be sporting a bit of a shiner on her right eye since Friday... guess she really pushed Weiss over the edge with those perverse comments. I was walking from lunch to the Combat arena for Combat classes seeing as Combat class took up our afternoons on Mondays. As I walked down the halls I saw Cardin Winchester and his team of goons walking around like a gang of street thugs, terrorising the smaller students at Beacon. My neighbours saw me and instantly dropped their current target for bullying and blocked my way to the arena "So Simon, buddy. I was reading the news the other day... your name comes up quite a bit. How's it feel to be a celebrity ghost?" Cardin laughed, knowing full well that the tag of being a ghost got a reaction out of me. "Cardin... why don't you go fuck yourself with that mace of yours." I replied venomously. Team CRDL on the other hand merely laughed at my reaction. "Such a feisty little one... and such a Vulgar mouth, I can't wait to shut it in combat class today!" Carding taunted me. I simply smirked evilly "Oh you think you could beat me? Well bring it cockbite!" I retorted getting up in Cardin's face, not budging as he pushed me away. Cardin grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt and his teammates (I'd call them goons) circled me, other students watched but didn't intervene.

However before a 4v1 brawl could begin Professor Goodwitch came storming down the halls, her permanently angry face now even angrier. "Children... No fighting in the halls. Save it for the arena!" came her order, using her wand to separate us all. Cardin and I eyed each other off before Cardin and his goon squad moved down the hallway towards the arena, Carding shoulder barging me as he went. I patted down my combat uniform, smoothing out the ruffles as I was approached by Weiss. "Well he seems to have set his sights on you, reckon you could take him?" I heard the angelic voice of my friend. I chuckled "I know I can... he is nothing but a bully and he sees me as prey... Oh I look forward to showing him otherwise Weiss." I replied eager for a scrap. I saw Weiss smile fall inexplicably as she looked behind me. Before I could turn to see what caused her face to fall into a deeper scowl than usual I saw the leader of JNPR come into view _'Oh here we go again... this ought to be interesting.'_ I thought as I remembered to the incident in the locker rooms before Initiation.

"Why hello Snow angel you're looking radiant as usual. Have you done something with your hair?" The Blond Knight inquired. Looking at Weiss' perfectly done hair in its off centre ponytail I could see nothing discernibly different about it from any of the hundreds of other mornings I have seen it. I looked at Weiss who had face palmed and grumbled something before facing the knight and pushing past him, nose pointed high in the air as she ignored the flirtatious knight. I chuckled and him a thumbs up before following my friend to the arena for combat classes. I missed the Knight return my thumbs up and get a look of determination on his face as I walked away.

In the arena I had just finished watching a match where Nora demolished Dove from Team CRDL in less than 3 minutes. _'Damn... poor guy, if you weren't such an asshole bully I'd actually be sympathetic to you for having to verse Nora.' _I thought, remembering my own beating at her hands. "Congratulations Miss Valkyrie on an excellent display of strength. Ok Children, our next match shall be a tag team match between: Weiss Schnee and Simon Alexander V Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc. Teams take your positions." Professor Goodwitch said evenly. I smirked, Weiss and I had worked tag team against battle mechs in the White Castle arena many times for fun and we had actually gotten quite good at working together. As I stepped onto the arena I looked to my friend "Well looks like Jaune's got a chance to impress you... or for you to crush his dreams, literally." I said sarcastically.

Weiss looked at me grumpily. "Be careful you don't become my next victim after him... I've had enough annoyance from Yang as Is." She snarled at me. I smirked at the easily annoyed Heiress "Ok Weiss, I'll take that big brute Cardin and you take tall, blond and scraggly over there." Weiss got an eager smile upon her face and nodded in agreement at my Idea. Before the match began I took my gun-staff out from its holster and extended a blade and rammed it into the ground and extended my gauntlet's blades "May as well get some practice in with my secondary weapons, make it a bit more challenging for me. Oh yeah, mind giving me a boost at the beginning _Snowflake_?" I said using my nickname for the Heiress. Weiss nodded and took her ready position. I got into a sprinters start, pointing right at Cardin.

**Third Person PoV:**

Goodwitch signalled for the match to begin and Weiss summoned a speed glyph under Simon, propelling him at the CRDL captain before projecting a streak of Ice at the flirtatious knight.

As Simon reached Cardin he performed a hand spring over a horizontal sweep of Cardin's mace, landing behind the bully who wasn't able to recover from his massive swing in time copped a kick to the back of his knee which brought Cardin down to a kneel. Simon followed up with a stabbing punch at the back of Cardin's neck which was absorbed by his aura.

Meanwhile on the other side of the arena Jaune was barely able to keep up with Weiss' quick thrusts and flourishes of her rapier. Jaune attempted to launch a cut towards Weiss' legs but was dodged by Weiss who leaped up onto a hovering glyph a Jaune's cheat height from where Weiss sent a powerful kick careening into Jaune's jaw. sending him reeling back.

Cardin having managed to regain his footing and surprised Simon by ramming the hilt of his mace into Simon's breadbasket had gone on the offensive. Cardin swung his mace down heavily on Simon who blocked it with the armoured gauntlets on his arms. Cardin rammed a knee up into Simon's chest and landed a mace blow to Simon's head which sent the staff wielder across the room. "Weiss I need a stall on this guy!" He called to his temporary partner.

Weiss heard her partner call out and Immediately slammed the tip of her rapier into the ground and created an Ice barrier between Simon and Cardin. Weiss then turned her attention back to the blond knight who had recovered from her latest assault and had come out in a very offensive assault, fainting a blow with his sword before slamming his shield into Weiss head. it did barely any damage to her Aura but it was enough to annoy the Heiress who redoubled her assault, her Rapier coated in red dust Weiss charged back at Jaune who attempted to strike at the Heiress only to be caught by surprise at the explosive repulsion that happened when his blade met _Myrtenaster _Jaune was caught so off guard he lost grip on his long sword. With only his shield left Jaune chuckled weakly before lunging for his sword.

Weiss' ice barrier had given Simon about 5 seconds of reprieve from the bully's offensive. It was all he needed. By the time Cardin reached Simon he was ready, As Cardin swung his mace down at Simon he activated his time distorting semblance and positioned his hands so that when time sped up he was perfectly positioned to grab onto the shaft of the mace and use Cardin's mace as a lever to shift the momentum and flip Cardin through the air and slam him onto the ground. As Cardin laid on the ground, Simon punt kicked him in the groin, just for good measure. Cardin howled in pain as he reeled on the ground, but he was far from beaten. Getting up Cardin growled at the slightly smaller and leaner Simon and charged him, using Brute strength to try and regain the upper hand. Simon managed to parry or dodge most of the blows even landing a few stabs and cuts when Cardin left himself open, however one large one connected with Simon's side and sent him flying towards his teammate.

"Weiss, I think Cardin needs a taste of _Stopwatch_" Simon said to Weiss signalling for one of their tag team manoeuvrers. Weiss nodded and ignored her inept opponent that was scrambling across the ground to his sword. Weiss summoned a clockwork like glyph underneath herself as Simon charged forward at Cardin. A split second before Weiss took off at Cardin having charged her speed glyph, Simon activated his semblance once more, slowing down Cardin to a snail's pace making it impossible to avoid the flurry of attacks the Weiss unleashed as she propelled herself forward and bounced off several hovering glyphs around Cardin. Once Weiss was finished She ended moving in near slow motion as her burst of speeding up herself reversed into a burst of slowness. To avoid Cardin taking advantage of this She put a propelling glyph under me and shot Simon at Cardin so he could deliver a massive shoulder charge to Cardin in order to drive him back and keep him away from Weiss.

Unfortunately his armour caused great pain in Simon's shoulder, but he was sure that nothing had broken or dislocated, just going to be a nice bruise later on. Simon launched several punches into the gaps in Cardin's armour, trying to drain his Aura as much as possible. Simon was doing well at striking Cardin until out of nowhere a sword struck Simon in the back, knocking him down. It seemed Jaune was back into the fight. Jaune and Cardin both went to strike Simon however their weapons clanged together each causing the other to miss Simon who rolled out of the way. Cardin looked angrily at Jaune who shoved him away and faces Simon only to be met by an armoured punch as Simon retracted the gauntlet's blade and used its armour to knock Cardin over towards where Simon's staff stood in the ground.

"Weiss. Drop The Dime!" Simon called out signalling another tag team move. Weiss used immobilising glyphs to trap Cardin next to Simon's gun staff. Simon was propelled forward by another glyph and swung around his staff which was stuck vertically in the ground and smacked Cardin dead in the face with a punishing double booted kick with the steel caps of his boots. Cardin went flying, his Aura now in the red and his face matching his aura levels.

Jaune during his had been catching his breath, suddenly caught out in a 2v1 match. Weiss sized up the bumbling blond knight and smirked "Simon, I think a Dart board is in order?" She asked calmly. Simon nodded and ripped his staff out of the ground and set it into its gun mode and lined up Jaune's face with the laser pointer sight and let rip with several volley's of flechettes which bounced off of Jaune's Aura, hurting the knight nonetheless . Simon deliberately sent his shots off to one side every few volley's to force Jaune towards a corner of the arena where he was unable to manoeuvre. By the time Simon had run out of ammo in his current magazine Weiss was in position at Jaune's exposed side and propelled herself forward with a speed glyph, the sharp point of her rapier coated in a unique white dust Glyph making contact just beneath the armpit of Jaune's sword arm in the unarmoured ribs area. The blow knocked Jaune in a heap on top of the still bleeding Cardin who angrily picked up Jaune and threw him off.

"And that is match. The Winners are Simon and Weiss. Cardin and Jaune... you both must work on your team work." Professor Goodwitch said flatly, congratulating the victors and encouraging the defeated to do better. Simon and Weiss walked off the arena happily joking and complimenting each other on their teamwork and abilities. However Cardin pushed Jaune down to the ground and promised to make Jaune pay for making Cardin lose the match.

**A/N: **Well That last scene, apart from being requested by a couple of readers actually also Is my theory on why Jaune was Cardin's primary target for bullying. So keep making those requests for fights... any one from Teams CRDL, RWBY, JNPR &amp; SNST to go at it in 1v1, 2v2 or Team v Team :)

Also Here are the Bio's on some of the OC's that you should keep an eye out for later on in the story, just in case you lose track:

\- **Colonel (formerly Captain) Ty Kruger: **A long term veteran of the Atlesian Army. Ty Kruger eventually left the army after being left unhappy with their response to mounting Faunus aggression. Joining the Black Fist, Ty became Captain of _Rum Squad_ which led to him meeting Simon Alexander and commanding Simon across dozens of missions all across the Atlesian Highlands. Eventually leaving the Black Fist due to advanced age and wanting to see his grandkids grow up, Kruger and his family moved first to Mistral and then to Vacuo where Ty was eventually drawn into the Vacuo special operations unit the "Long Range Desert Raiders".

Age: 60  
Current location: Vacuo.

\- **Gregory Volker: **Gregory like Simon was left orphaned by the White Fang during their murderous rampages across the kingdoms after a leadership change. Gregory during indoctrination became a big brother like figure to Simon and with His Sister Sophia were de facto leaders of the group of orphans. During the final test to become full Black Fist operatives Sophia was killed by The White Fang and this left Gregory bitter and angry for a long time. Eventually letting go of his anger and like many others saw the error of his ways deserted the Black Fist and has not been seen since.

Age: 19  
Current location: Unknown.

\- **Levi Hartman: **Another Orphan who trained with Simon during their indoctrination into the Black Fist. A quiet yet capable fighter, Levi during the time Simon knew him was the least hateful towards Faunus not associated to the White Fang. Formed a close bond with fellow orphan Sarah Hogan eventually beginning a relationship with her sometime before the Battle for the Atlesian Alps when they were reunited with Simon.

Age: 18

Current location: Unknown

\- **Sarah Hogan: **Sarah like Levi was quiet however she did foster considerable hatred towards the Faunus after their final test in the Grimm woods and her friend Sophia was killed. Formed a relationship with Levi and would follow him anywhere.

Age: 18  
Current location: Unknown

\- **Alex Kenny: **Alex was close friends with fellow orphan Ben Lawquane who was killed by Schwarzer Belladonna as a ploy to get at Simon and as such holds considerable animosity towards Simon, however was sympathetic towards him with regards to his personal revenge against Schwarzer.

Age: 17  
Current location: Unknown

\- **Kale Smyth and Shaun "Shauno" Morgan: **The resident Snipers of Rum Squad. These two smartasses took nothing seriously, constantly making jokes, pranks and innuendo to no end, much to the chagrin of Rum Squad's 2Ic Sanderson. By age 15 both of these men were accomplished Grimm killers using precise long ranged sniper rifles. Eventually working for the Schnee Dust Company as sharpshooters against Grimm and increasingly against Faunus who planned to raid dust shipments. These two became almost inseparable. Joining Rum Squad upon the request of their boss they provided sniper support to Rum Squad as well as taking the piss out of Roman at every turn. Eventually becoming disillusioned with The Black Fist after being forced to kill an Atlesian council member and a peaceful Faunus Kale and Shauno deserted and have not been seen or heard from since.

Ages: Kale: 32  
Shaun: 30

Current location: Unknown (Thought to be in Vale)

\- **David Sanderson: **Served under Kruger in the Atlesian Army and joined him in the Black Fist as 2IC to Rum Squad. Sanderson was a strict former Sergeant and a disciplinarian, was the butt of most of Kale and Shauno's antics. A Highly capable soldier David had Kruger's back time and again. When Kruger left the Fist during a brief window of amnesty to long term members to exit the group David left as well and has been studying at university since, though keeps in contact with both Kruger and Simon.

Age: approx 35.  
Current location: Atlas

\- **Lachlan McLean: **A deserter from the Vale Defence Force. Lachlan Served with the 1st Mobile Regiment (A Heavy armoured and mechanized formation) and was part of the force that responded to the massacre of 2 police officers protecting Simon by the White Fang. Lachlan has an intense almost psychopathic hatred of all Faunus and relished killing them. He often provided close cover to Simon during infiltrations into White Fang camps and was well versed in the "Arts" of interrogation and torture. Unlike Kale, Shauno and Simon. Lachlan returned to the Black Fist after the Atlesian capital assassinations. It is not known what happened to him since.

Age: approx. 29  
Current location: Unknown.

I hope these Bio's help you all keep track of the main OC's that have impacted on Simon's Journey through life and may continue to do so in the future. If you guys have any other questions don't hesitate to ask and I'll do what I can to answer. -CC


	25. Raiders

**A/N: First off I wanna thank you all for bringing this story up to over 5500 views! you've all made me so happy that so many people have checked out this story.**

I know the last few chapters have been a little light on plot and mainly character development and interactions between characters. (and me having a lot of fun with the combat matches.) But things are going to begin to move along again now plot wise.

I have been writing this with the Volume 2 Soundtrack on repeat. My top 3 songs:  
1/ "Boop"  
2/ "Caffeine"  
3/ "Die"

What do you guys think?

I got a question for my readers: Would you like to see more of the story told through other characters eyes (e.g.: Velvet, Blake, Weiss just to name 3) or just keep it from Simon's PoV unless he isn't present? feedback on this will help me immensely with how to continue telling this tale. -CC

**Disclaimer: I Still DON'T own RWBY**

**Chapter 25: Raiders. Vacuo Desert, Ty Kruger's PoV:**

We had been holding the perimeter around the crashed airship for well over a week now, being resupplied by air as crash investigators from both Vale and Vacuo to try and piece together what had happened to bring down this Dust shipment. I had been called over to a small tent that served as a field HQ to get in touch with command back in Vacuo. As I took a seat near the monitor I stretched my aching legs _'I was too old for this crap 20 years ago... why the hell am I still doing this?' _I thought to myself cynically. The connection back to Vacuo failed a couple times, not surprising given that we were nearly 1000km's from the city and a good 200km from the nearest friendly settlement with a radio transmitter.

"Colonel Kruger, can you read?" Came the static filled voice of the Militia HQ radio dispatcher trying to reach me for a 3rd time.

"I read you 2 by 3. The signal is bullshit out here." I replied, my temper not in the best mood as I was borderline heatstroke.

"wait one, increasing signal strength. There, stable connection secured, transferring you to Chief of Operations: Brigadier Slate." Came the radio dispatcher's voice followed by a click as the transmission was moved to the Brigadier.

"Colonel Kruger how are you holding up out there you old snowman?" The Brigadier asked using his pet name for the Atlesian.

"The squadron is holding up well, the sandstorms missed us thankfully... I imagine they're just as deadly as Atlesian blizzards. Mind telling me what the investigators have found out? They aint telling me shit." I replied dead-panned, not wanting to let my frustration show.

"To be honest: Not much to tell, the Airship was taken down by some heavy duty SAM's... no idea on the make or origin of them as it is difficult to find fragments of the missiles. All I know is that it is gear that up till now we had thought was NOT in the hands of Dust bandits and other undesirables that inhabit the deserts and that you're going to find and eliminate whoever did this." The Brigadier replied, an eagerness in his voice to get to the bottom of this.

I was gobsmacked "With all due respect sir... we're already 1000km from Vacuo, you're wanting me to take my men even further into the desert?"

"Got it in 1 Kruger. It is your job... or do you think we call you the _LONG RANGE Desert Raiders _for nothing? We're airlifting some militia infantry to replace you in guarding the crash site as well as to bring you fresh stocks of supplies and extra ammo for your vehicle mounted weapons as well as your ATGMs. I'll contact you in the morning to give you further details. Brigadier Slate out." And the line dropped out as soon as the reply from Slate was complete not giving me any time to rebut. Grumbling I marched out of the tent and called for a meeting of the Squadrons officers, they were sure to be as unhappy about this as I was.

**The Next Afternoon: Ty Kruger's PoV**

Slate had eventually handed me a list of 5 areas which contained a highly probable site to hide a camp and advanced SAM emplacements. One for each of my troops. So The Squadron had split, each 30 man troop being assigned 1 target area. I had decided to bring my Squadron HQ (essentially a couple of jeeps and trucks with advanced comms arrays with "C" Troop to hit the furthest target area... an additional 400km into the wastelands from the crash site.

"You know Colonel... I honestly think someone in HQ hates us, no other squadron gets sent this far out from the city." My driver, a scrawny kid who couldn't be more than 19 theorised. he was probably right... a lot of people weren't happy about me a former Atlesian Captain and Black Fist soldier getting such a high rank immediately upon joining, but I wasn't going to let him know that.

"We're just the new Squadron on the block... they're just testing us out, seeing how we handle under pressure." I replied evenly, trying to calm the boy's nerves.

"Colonel Sir, C-3 here We got Grimm bearing 271 approx 2km off moving parallel to us. It looks like Beowolves... not your regular kind either, those big Wasteland bastards about 50 of em." I heard a member of C troop's 3rd patrol call over the radio. Grabbing my binoculars I could indeed see off in the East a large group of desert Grimm. Frowning I weighed up possible courses of action _'Ugh.. of course they would turn up just as we were out of range of help.' _I thought as I reached forward and raked the bolts on the twin machine gun mount in front of me and opened a comms channel to everyone in the troop "Don't let those trigger fingers get too itchy... let's just see what these Grimm do first, if they come within 500m of the column then mow them down." I ordered my men, hoping that the Grimm don't decide that they want to try and make us an afternoon snack.

The Grimm kept their distance, closing slowly on us. trying to keep out of sight behind sand dunes. The Grimm out here were smarter, larger and more adaptive than the younger more restless Grimm that lived closer to the kingdoms and came into more contact and were subject to more culls by hunters and the various armies the kingdoms possessed.

It was near sunset and we were still about 50km from our supposed target area. The terrain was covered with sand dunes, couldn't see for more than 300m without your view being obstructed by a dune, though at most angles view range was 200m at most. The gunners were keeping their heads on a swivel, looking for any sign of the Grimm that had remained unseen for the best part of an hour. "Sir... I got a bad feeling about this." My driver said nervously, I shushed him and swivelled my twin machine gun mount. I didn't want to scare the boy but I also had just as bad a feeling about this particular stretch of desert.

There was a dune about 150m to our front, it was then that I saw them cresting it, about two dozen of the wasteland Beowolves charging right at the 15 vehicles (13 _Desert Rat _jeeps and 2 comms trucks) that made up "C" Troop and my Squadron HQ. I didn't hesitate, grabbing the twin mounted 7.62mm machine guns I let loose with a large sweeping burst into the group. I could hear other vehicles calling out contacts in other directions that was accompanied by the various sounds of weapons firing. The deep slow _Thud-Thud-Thud _of the 40mm Automatic Grenade Launchers mounted on the rear mounts of some jeeps or the quicker _Boom-Boom-Boom _of the 7.62mm and .50 cal machine guns. I quickly realised it wasn't just one pack.. we seemed to have attracted the attention of several other packs as there was way more than 50 of these bastards. "Troop. put the pedal to the metal... we gotta punch a hole right through the group to our front. Gunners keep up your fire!" I ordered calmly over the radio as my driver floored it right at the group to our front.

I began firing my twin 7.62mm's and managed to shoot a few of the big wolves down. all around the convoy angry howls mixed in with the cacophony of weapon discharges. We were less than 100m from the group in front of us, our convoy going a speedy 70km/h along the desert sand with Grimm closing in on all sides. It was at this point that my guns decided to jam, not having enough time to rectify the problem I grabbed up the Automatic shotgun beside the seat and braced for impact.

Our jeep which was in the lead sped right into the group of Beowolves. Crushing the first one that didn't react in time, it's head splattering as it made contact with the bull bar. The next one however managed to jump up and land on the bonnet of the jeep and slammed a claw into the bullet proof windscreen causing it to crack, expecting this I raised the shotgun and pumped the Grimm's ugly snarling face with Six 12 gauge slugs, basically turning it to mush, its body being crushed under the 6 wheel drive.

Before I could relish ridding my jeep of the giant Beowolf I heard a sickening crunch, in my rear view mirror I saw one of the jeeps get smacked on the side by a Grimm and began flipping over and over on its side. I could see the occupants, the Troop commander included scramble out, sidearms drawn and trying to fend off the giant Grimm with not but pistols... it was gallant but fruitless, all nearby Grimm swamped them and overwhelmed them, I could see blood and guts strewn over the sand and the faces of the Grimm that got a hold of them. I closed my eyes in a quick moment to honour the sacrifice of my newfound brothers in arms and to kick myself for getting my men killed.

"Troop, once we clear this dune form line formation, reduce the risk of friendly fire now we have all the Grimm behind us... 50m spread." I called over the radio, my tone even and in control. If I panicked the men would as well and panicked men led to more deaths. My driver was currently swerving and a Grimm slammed the side of my jeep trying to mimic what happened to the Troop Commander's jeep. My driver was ramming the Grimm, not letting it get too much momentum up and I was trying to get a good shot on it with my shotgun seeing as it was too close for the gunner to get at with the 40mm. "Come on you cockbite! Eat some fucking lead!" I yelled at it as it changed tactic and latched onto the side of the jeep, trying to bite at me, only for it to get my shotgun's barrel down its throat and several slugs tearing its insides up. Once the now dead Grimm fell lifelessly off the side of my jeep and the troop cleared the dunes the vehicles drew parallel to each other 50m apart and the gunners all faced rearward to pepper any chasing Grimm with 40mm grenades or .50 cal slugs.

Once we had put some distance between us and the Grimm pack that backed off, having wasted their element of surprise I got the troop to halt, check for damage and injuries. one gunner had been killed by a leaping Grimm that took the poor guys head straight off, his body was still standing and his hands still gripping the hand guards of the 40mm grenade launcher he was manning. Each soldier in "C" Troop looked solemnly at this display of doing ones duty right till the end.

Looking around the rest of the Vehicles I could see some had massive dents, missing parts, bull bars ripped off. But despite all that "C" Troop had come out relatively unscathed. I made my way to the comms truck and brought up each of the other 4 troops that made up my squadron as the men made hurried repairs and reloaded guns and grenade launchers. Turned out all but "E" Troop had made contact with the various desert Grimm and were in various conditions. "A" and "D" troops got off relatively unscathed, losing 2 vehicles each but no other injuries or casualties. "B" Troop however had lost approx 2/3 of its strength and was down to 3 working jeeps and 11 men (4 of which were wounded), the senior soldier being a corporal who had only been promoted a week before this mission. I had asked if they wanted to head to the nearest settlement and wait for evac but they had elected to continue on with their mission. I had to admire the determination that seemed inherent to everyone who called vacuo home, even if their lack of uniformity in any aspect of their dress drove an organised Atlesian such as myself around the bend.

Exiting the comms truck I summoned all the patrol leaders as well as major Silver to review my plan of attack on the camp that lay about 10km away from here. "Well from the images we've been sent it seems this camp is guarded by an anti-vehicle trench and a thick wall... very high probability of heavy enemy contact... maybe even the suspect AA launcher. Plan of attack after we conduct recon to gain more details on enemy strength will be a standard V formation assault to bring maximum firepower to bare against whatever enemies inhabit this camp. Once we hit the final 200m we form up single file to enter the camp. Once we're in the camp passengers and driver's will dismount and complete the sweeps, gunner's stay on your mounts and provide suppressive fire. Any questions or comments? That aren't about how much of a bullshit mission this is please." Upon seeing no hands raised or anyone speak up I dismissed the patrol leaders to go talk to their Troopers.

I took the time to sit in the comms truck which featured a luxury: an air-conditioner to keep the comms gear from getting heat damaged, but it was heaven for me to just sit in there and relax out of the last of the afternoon heat, I'd hate to give myself a damned heart attack out here through heat exposure. I sat there cooling down and sending a progress report back to Vacuo before the sun went down and the scouts I'd sent out returned.

It had been dark for about an hour when we heard the whine of motorcycle engines to signify that the scouts had returned from checking out the camp. They had brought with them several photographs pointing out several reinforced machine gun nests, mortars and static rocket launchers. All of it looked like it had only been put up not more than 2 or 3 months ago, it had few signs of wear or tear from the harsh desert. I looked over the photographs and got an uneasy feeling about this all _'All of this gear is quite advanced and new... who the hell is operating out here with such high tech equipment... and why?' _ I though anxiously as I made a few adjustments to my plan of assault before the Troop mounted up and quietly made their way towards the camp.

About 1.5km from the camp just behind a very large dune I stopped the convoy and had the Squadron HQ take the Anti-Tank missiles the troop carried and pointed out through thermal imaging lenses sights the bunkers and other static defences, the HQ's job would be to eliminate those obstacles just before the rest of the troop made its mounted charge at the camp, hopefully disorientating whoever occupied the area enough that they can't put up serious resistance.

We waited until it was the dead of night, about 2:30am before making our move, hopefully most of them would be asleep. The HQ troopers took up their positions along the top of the dunes, the jeeps of "C" Troop including mine and Major Silver's jeeps just behind the summit, waiting to floor it over the dune and towards the camp once the missiles were fired. I clicked the PTT button on my radio twice to signal for the assault to begin. The HQ loosed their guided missiles and several explosions rocked the camp as the 11 Jeeps that were taking part in the assault rolled forward and began heading full speed towards the camp in a V formation, just like the horse mounted charges of old. As predicted the enemy was scattered, disorientated and a large part of their defences rendered useless.

That being said, the enemy reacted quickly and Mortars, rockets, grenade launchers and rifles quickly opened up at us. Whenever I saw something flash I hosed the area down with the twin mounted machine guns that I'd had fixed between the fight with the Grimm and now. We got within 1km and the incoming fire intensified, but we pressed on. I saw a rocket speed past my jeep and smack into the one behind me to the right, the jeep going airborne and exploding midair as the fuel tanks ignited. As it hit the ground the jeeps behind it had to swerve to avoid the burning wreck and the screams of the soon to be dead occupants, I'd made it perfectly clear not to stop for wounded as we made our charge in lest we get pinned down and slaughtered... Such is war.

The HQ soldiers had loosed another volley of missiles that rocked the camp and silenced much of the heavier opposition. "Wahoo! Colonel... This is a kick ass ride!" My driver said, his tone one of adrenaline fuelled excitement as he dodged bullets, rockets and mortars. I couldn't help but be a little exhilarated myself I began to cackle insanely, letting the adrenaline take over as I continued to fire into the enemies camp, the green of my night vision goggles filled with bright flashes of light from fires in the camp, muzzle flashes and tracers dancing in the night sky, it had been a long time since I'd been in a fire fight this intense.

We had gotten within less than 500m of the camp when out of the main entrance came strolling two lone figures, just walking towards us, almost casually. My blood ran cold, I hadn't anticipated hunter trained enemies to be here. I could only watch helplessly as they flourished their weapons, both of which seemed to be wielding matching swords, their flourishes resulting in a wave flash of dust and then a streak of light that hit a vehicle right behind me, reducing it to nothing but incinerated ashes.

Something inside me snapped as I opened a comms channel "ALL UNITS: Focus fire on those hunters! I want reduced to nothing but ashes! hose them down with 40 mike mike!" I called over the radio before I trained my twin mounted guns onto the pair and unleashed hell upon them as did everyone else. The hunters jumped up on the air to dodge the machine guns and 40mm grenades but something they hadn't expected was for our missiles to be guided, for in mid air both were hit by the missiles that unlike our other weapons had merely followed the now airborne hunters. The explosion slammed the pair back down into the camp, dazed and looking worse for wear but still standing. _'Well fuck these two!' _I thought. The main gate was coming up quickly and our jeeps lined up single file to enter into the camp, my gunner still pumping grenades into the hunters. At less than 100m range the Hunters dashed forward, both flipping up: one landing on my jeep and the other bouncing off mine and further back into the column.

The hunter on my jeep swiped his sword over my guns, slicing them both in half. I already had the automatic shot gun in my hand and I pumped him with 12 gauge slugs, he absorbed the rounds better than the Grimm did but the sheer force of the point blank impacts combined with the jinking and swerving my driver was doing to unbalance the hunter pushed him off the jeep, my driver ensuring to run him over on his way down. The column split into pairs once they had cleared the main gate, sweeping the camp, shooting up anything that moved, the original plan to instantly dismount all but abandoned. my Jeep however skidded to a halt once we had finished running over the rogue hunter the gunner continued pumping 40mm grenades into him, bits of shrapnel spraying everywhere. We saw the rogue's mangled corpse. _'Heh only so much punishment an aura can take... thanks for teaching me that trick Simon.' _I thought, as I signalled for the driver to keep going further into the camp, I wanted to find a command complex of some type to search for answers.

Once we crossed the boundary into the camp, there was only one possible result: Our mobility and firepower overwhelmed the enemy, they quickly began surrendering once they'd seen one of their hunters being killed and the other being incapacitated and captured by another part of the Troop. I eventually found what looked to be a command complex, right next to 3 advanced, mobile SAM launchers... This was certainly the group that brought down the airship, only question now is "WHY?" I had my driver and gunner wait outside, making sure no one followed me in. My Automatic Shotgun raised I reached a command centre that had two men and a woman in it trying desperately to shred papers and wipe computers. They saw me and attempted to surrender, however 1 slug to each one's face ended their attempts at hiding evidence. Taking a data stick I began downloading every file I could from the computer, it was all encrypted but I knew people who could crack any code.

While that was downloading I checked the tree corpses, finding no ID. But I knew these people didn't belong out here... they all wore identical uniforms, something No Vacuo native could ever do, Vacuo people were much more individualistic than any other kingdom, even the militia had no real uniform to speak of. I made a more detailed search of the corpses, eventually finding what I was looking for "Well well well, you guys are a long way from home now aren't you? I wonder what your masters would have to do with this all then aye?" I questioned the obviously dead corpses sarcastically. Once the download onto the data stick was completed I noted several blocks of explosives on all the equipment, I set a timer for 60 seconds and left, wanting to eradicate the evidence I had found, It was too dangerous for everyone involved for the Vacuo Council to find out about who exactly was behind this, no this was a lead I had to follow up myself... and I knew just the man to help me.

As I exited the building several thuds sounded and the ground shook, signalling that the charges had done their job. Major Silver looked suspiciously at me, but decided against questioning my methods, instead offering a casual salute and handing me a scroll "8 dead, 5 wounded. Plus the 4 dead from the Grimm attack, but we got the job done sir. I've had the HQ send a signal back to Vacuo for aerial evac, we're not in shape to drive the 1400km back to the city and I think people need to see these launchers ASAP, congratulations Colonel... you found the cause of the crash, but I only think this has left more questions than it has answered. Foremost being: Who gave this rabble so much high end gear and what's the story with the rogue hunters?" I shrugged and took a swig from my canteen before offering the Major some. "I have no idea right now, but I got a few hunches." I replied scanning the burning wreckage that was this camp, only the incriminating launchers complete with Atlesian Army markings remained undamaged after the assault and fire fight.

**Beacon Academy: Wednesday Week 3, Simon's PoV:**

Nyanza had been quiet for the past few days, spending his free time away from the team. Probably with Yang or one of his other mates in other teams. I had only seen him for classes, team training, meals and when it was time for sleep. I didn't particularly care, so long as we worked well together during classes and training and eventually missions my team could do as they wished away from the team. In fact I encouraged SNST to go off solo during our free time, though Teal and Sienna seemed to spend a bit of time together. No need to be up in each other's faces 24/7.

So here I found myself after classes ended for the day resting under a tree near Beacon cliffs reading a book from the Library. It was part of a series about an Atlesian soldier-turned teacher-turned spy who rose through the ranks and eventually became president of the Atlas Ruling Council after his predecessor as killed when a rogue Mistralan pilot ploughed his Airship into the Council chamber's as revenge for Atlas defeating Mistral in a small war over some contested islands.

The weather was much warmer here than in Atlas and I was feeling very hot and bothered even doing the most simple tasks while out in the Valean sun, but at least I was losing the pale skin that most Atlesians seemed to have. _'Wow If I' am suffering here. I'd hate to think how bad Kruger has it in Vacuo... But then again he is probably sitting in an air conditioned room drinking Scotch. He had a lot of Lien saved up, so he is probably a very rich man by Vacuo standards.' _I thought as I fanned myself with my novel. I heard footsteps approaching me, sighing I put my bookmark in place and placed the novel in the small backpack I had with me. "Hey Simon, Sienna said I should be able to find you down here." I heard Velvet's nervous voice from behind me. I internally sighed _'So much for peace and tranquillity.' _

I turned to face the bunny girl, a small smirk on my face "I wouldn't know why Sienna knows where I' am... I specifically come down here so I can't be found." I replied. My voice soft, so as not to frighten or put off Velvet from coming down here and seeing me. "Oh I' am sorry, I didn't know you were down here to be alone." Velv turned to leave but I grabbed her hand as gently as I could "No. you put in the effort to find me so it'd be extremely rude of me to turn you away." I replied hurriedly, my voice cracking slightly. I noticed Velvet blushing slightly and looking down to where my hand was grasping hers. I thought nothing of the blush as I withdrew my hand and offered her a place on the mat I'd brought down with me. "So what are you wondering Velv? Or did you just miss me." I chuckled weakly, trying to defuse the thick awkward atmosphere that had existed between Velv and I since she'd come crashing back into my life. Velv smiled lightly as she sat down and I beside her.

"Well Simon, I was just wondering and just tell me to stop if you don't feel comfortable answering... why you ran? why not hide until the White Fang left and then came to seek refuge with my family? I know it is probably a painful memory.. but it is a question that's plagued my family and I most of all for 5 years. " Velvet asked, a tone of hurt in her eyes.

I averted my eyes and thought back to that night... the fear I felt, my mother's screams as The White Fang caught her and I ran for my life... just as she told me to. "Velv, my mother told me to run... to run far away from that place. I don't think she wanted you all getting involved, she was protecting you and your family as well as me when she told me to run and not stop or return. Even when I ended up in Vale in police protection... the Fang found me and butchered those poor cops." I replied, my breath hitching as I remembered every detail of that night and the night that followed in the police station, if armed police in downtown Vale couldn't protect me or even themselves... what would have become of your parents? what would have become of you... I can tell you that The White Fang treats traitorous Faunus much worse than they will any human." I replied sadly, my fists clenching until my knuckles were ghost white at the thought of those monsters in the Fang getting Velvet or her family.

Velvet nodded slowly, understanding and accepting my late mother's logic. "Well I guess that is sound logic... but you really should come back home sometime? Everyone in town is going into overdrive with questions to me that I can't possibly answer." She asked hopeful. I was a bit taken aback... I hadn't anticipated such a request... I was so used to scorn or indifference from strangers that it was kinda overwhelming for people to actually want to see me and wanting to care about my welfare. What hit me even harder was the mention of _Home_... to me for as long as I could remember home was wherever I would rest my head for the night. Rum Squad's barracks had been my home, as had the Castle Guard barracks when I was with the SDC, I even considered the SNST dorm to be a home of sorts. To me Exton had just been a bad memory to be forgotten.

I felt a single tear run down my cheek, only to be wiped off by the delicate fingers of Velvet. "Hey Simon, are you ok? Hey what's wrong... talk to me." I heard her say softly, her hand slowly stroking the tears away I didn't flinch at the contact, It was quite comforting. "I' am fine Velvet... just struggling with the concept of going back to what you call home... what I call a memory best left forgotten." I replied, blinking back any remaining tears, not particularly wanting to let the emotional floodgates open here.

Velvet frowned at my response letting out a hurt sigh "I know it is painful to think about, but you can't hide from it forever... the people there do care and it is your home and my family or any other family will welcome you with open arms, whether you think it is or not Exton always has been and always will be home for you." Velvet replied defiantly, all awkwardness and meekness gone from her voice, making sure her point got through my stupid thick skull that I was no longer a transient moving from one job or mission to another without any single anchor to keep me in one place, that I had somewhere I could always return to and be safe.

I chuckled lightly, giving Velv a mock salute "Yes ma'am, any other orders for this grunt?" I replied, impressed with just how commanding Velvet could be when she wanted to, she certainly was not the modest and meek teenager as she appeared just looking at her. Nope she was a warrior, strong and fearless. "Nothing right now, but maybe during the semester break you can come visit... that gives you some time to prepare and get settled in at Beacon as well as sorting out your own mind and emotions, just know that there are people you can talk to... you are never alone in all of this, take care Simon." With that she gave me a quick hug before bouncing off towards the academy, leaving me there to think and reminisce of my childhood with Velvet.

**A/N:** Well what did Kruger find on those three corpses? what will he find on the data stick? You'll find out that and many other things soon my peeps :)

I also want to just announce now that I may not be able to post for much of January or February (But I' am working to get as much writing done during December as I can) as I'll be away working without much internet access on my laptop. During which time I'll be re-writing a lot of the earlier chapters (just cleaning them up: Grammar, spelling, paragraph length among other things)

So if you want to keep up with _From Hunted to Hunter _once my posting hiatus is up: follow or favourite the story and not miss any updates from yours truly.

Hope you're all enjoying your holiday season -CC


	26. Intertwined Pasts

**A/N: **Interesting Reviews, and I thank you all for the feedback provided. A few questions were asked or comments made that probably deserve answering for all to see:

1/ Will there be pairings? -**DePlexx**:  
Yes I intend on there being pairings, however I' am not exactly experienced or confident in writing romantic or fluffy couple scenes (As you've probably realised from the story so far). That being said, I want to expand and improve my writing ability when it comes to fluff and romance in preparation for some other story ideas I have. So I'll be damn well trying to write them in _Hunter_... and if I suck at writing love and fluff... then feel free to shoot me down in flames and I'll go back to tragedy, angst and action :P

2/ "This kind of chapter gives me the feeling story isn't about RWBY and Beacon at all. Just in the same world"- **AnonymousReading:  
**This is Simon's story first and foremost through which I am telling a story that on the whole works around and ties in with the storyline so far that follows Team RWBY (up to a point, I'll diverge and go my own way at a point). Ozpin said that whatever is at work may go beyond Vale, so I've decided to take that little snippet and make something that spans across not only Vale but also Vacuo and the other 2 Kingdoms as well. (which is why I've had most of the last chapter dedicated to Ty Kruger out in the Vacuo desert). I want to explore the rest of Remnant beyond Beacon, beyond Vale... that is where my fascination lies.

Team RWBY has their part to play: Weiss is Simon's closest friend and confidant. Blake and Simon's pasts are intertwined. And Team RWBY is involved with Roman: Someone that Simon really wants to find.

I do intend on writing a story based around Team RWBY and Team JNPR eventually... once I've finished up with _Hunter._ Though it may be a while until I complete this story and for me to be confident enough in my writing abilities not to mess up writing the main 2 Teams

Well without too much more rambling on my part... On to the story -CC

**Chapter 26: Intertwined Pasts. Friday Week 4: Blake's PoV: **

I had awoken this morning and took out the current book I was reading having decided to stop reading _Ninjas of Love _in the dorm after Ruby caught sight of one of the more explicit pictures in it. I shuddered at all the awkward questions I had to dodge that day from Ruby and the perverted looks and jokes from Yang about It: the worst being her asking me to read it to her as a bed time story, that woman had absolutely no shame with her perversions.

As I read my book, I looked up and I saw the calendar and I saw that It had been a month since I'd arrived here hiding in plain sight from my past and all those in it, looking back to when I had first arrived: I had been nervous, even slightly fearful at first of being around so many humans in an area I couldn't leave for the first 4 weeks of classes I was afraid of being caught out for what I was by other students... Only Ozpin knew me for my heritage, I had seen how Faunus were treated here by people like CRDL.

I had been lucky to end up with Team RWBY: Sure Ruby was immature at times and entirely too hyperactive... Though that may just be something to do with her semblance. Yang... heh Self proclaimed Queen of antics with Weiss Schnee forever in her sights, though she sure tests the sanity of everyone else around her, me especially, with her punthetic puns... DAMMIT YANG NOW I' AM MAKING THEM TO! As for Weiss: talk about bratty and self entitled. Don't get me wrong she is a capable fighter and a very studious person, but she is certainly doesn't really get along with people. No RWBY was a good team for me to be in, they had never been anything but nice to me and any other students, they could be infuriatingly annoying at times but I was coming to get slightly closer to them. They also were extremely nice to Velvet and the other Faunus in Beacon... even if Weiss was more indifferent to the Faunus at Beacon than be nice, though considering who her family was that was to be expected.

I heard Ruby stir from up upon her top bunk across the room, I sighed and covered my sensitive hidden ears with my pillow, one of Ruby's annoying habits was waking up Weiss with that damned whistle, it really hurt the first day when she surprised me with it. So now I made sure to wake up before the hyperactive reaper and protect my precious ears. I heard the muffled sound of that infernal whistle going off across the room, my cat ears hurt slightly beneath their bow and I groaned in frustrated pain. As the light ringing in my ears stopped I removed the pillow from my head to see the light blocked out from my bed by a curtain of flowing blonde hair "Up you get sleeping moody... Today we finally get out of this place and are able to venture out into Vale for the weekend." Came Yang's gleeful voice, I just knew the blonde would want to go off and find a party of some kind to dance her Friday night away. Ignoring her attempt at a pun I sat up in my bed and pushed her out of my way "As fun as it would be to inquire about your plans for the weekend Yang, but I honestly fear for the city of Vale with you on the loose." I retorted slyly before entering the bathroom to get changed into my uniform for the day not giving the cheeky blonde a chance to retort.

Coming out from the bathroom I saw Weiss berating Ruby for her continued use of that infernal whistle, guess the Heiress had finally had enough of the damned thing as she plucked it out of Ruby's hand and threw it out the window much to the brunettes distress. "WEISS! why you do that?" Ruby whined, targeting Weiss with one of her irresistible pouty looks... No one, not even me could withstand them. Weiss did her best to resist it but there was no avoiding those silver saucers that could bring world peace if the entire world saw them simultaneously. Weiss sighed and hung her head in defeat from the assault of adorableness from Ruby.

"If I get you some strawberries and a plate of cookies will all be forgiven?" Weiss asked, probably hoping Ruby didn't demand a new whistle as repayment. Ruby's eyes grew large, nearly as large as the smile she now wore before she glomped the Heiress in her arms "Oh thank-you Weiss... I accept your very generous offer, though I think a punnet of strawberries and a plate of cookies each day for a week will be more appropriate, I was rather fond of that whistle and I'd just love a new one." Ruby replied, obviously trying to extort more from the Heiress. Weiss groaned in frustration and Yang and I sniggered, knowing Weiss would give Ruby whatever she wanted just to avoid the hyperactive brunette getting a new whistle "Ok fine! Just let go of me you Dolt!" Ruby squealed in glee and squeezed Weiss tighter for a moment, causing the white haired girl to yelp, before Ruby finally released her grip and stepped away happily from the Heiress.

Yang chuckled loudly "Ruby, you let her off too easily... that was your _favourite _whistle, should have made her take us all out to dinner somewhere really nice." Yang said Weiss shot the busty blonde a death glare and stuck her nose up "Not happening Yang... I' am not taking you anywhere better than the local Dutchy's Bakehouse." Weiss replied irritably, referring to one of the better, if not best bakers in all of Vale. Yang smiled "Aww at least it isn't the local MacLennan's fast food good enough? Wow you really must like us." Yang retorted in a cheeky tone. Weiss however merely shrugged, still looking thoroughly tired and grumpy at being awoken before she was ready. "No... I' am the Schnee Heiress, I would not be caught dead in a cheap, unhealthy burger joint like MacLennan's! I have standards." Weiss retorted, grabbing up her shower stuff and her uniform before disappearing into the dorm's bathroom, shutting down Yang's antics for the 2nd time this morning.

Once we were all dressed and ready we made our way as a team to the cafeteria for breakfast, once their I grabbed a bowl of cereal and some toast, I tried to limit the amount of tuna I ate at breakfast, as much as I loved it I couldn't risk people growing suspicious if I appeared addicted to it for no reason. As usual we sat with Team JNPR who were planning on spending the weekend in their pairs away from the other half of the Team: apparently Nora had insisted upon that idea while Jaune had been hoping to convince Weiss to spend some time with him. Poor boy, he just couldn't see Weiss had no interest in him... Not that I hoped he would stop, it was amusing to see him hit on the uptight Heiress. "So Snow Angel you got any plans for the weekend? I heard there were some great new movies getting released this weekend." I heard Jaune ask Weiss, I hid a smirk as Weiss huffed and did her best to ignore the blond knight. Not giving up, Jaune continued to ask questions of Weiss who continued ignoring him and getting more annoyed by the minute. Just as Weiss was about to snap a tray of food banged down on the table next to Weiss, startling her slightly. The tray belonged to none other than what was in my opinion Weiss' personal attack dog: The scar faced, perpetually irate Simon Alexander, a former mercenary (or so he says) that has a penchant for violence. He also seemed to be overly suspicious of me as proven by the hostile way he speaks to me and his evasiveness when I returned his battle-worn helmet to him.

Simon quickly engaged in conversation with Weiss who seemed quite at ease with him. I noticed Simon send a sly wink Jaune's way, the latter of which huffed in defeat before turned his attention to Pyrrha his partner and not-so-secret admirer. I listened into the conversations, preferring to stick to the fringes and not draw attention to myself. I could hear Yang talking to Ruby about their plans for their first trip out of Beacon since arriving. Nora was regaling the rest of JNPR about her latest dream or scheme while having her mouth full of pancakes. Simon and Weiss seemed to making small talk about something happening up in Atlas, Simon kept shooting me glances, obviously trying to work me out... I had no idea what he was thinking and it somewhat scared me that he may suspect who I really was. I could sense an angry, yet also fearful aura around him... all of which seemed to be directed at me, I couldn't fathom why he would be fearful of me at all. I decided to test the waters, try to work out what his game was.

"So Simon, what brings you over to our teams? Don't you have one of your own?" I asked, keeping my voice level, focusing my senses of hearing and sight onto him to pick up any change in tone or facial expression that may hint to what he was truly thinking. The boy immediately stopped his conversation with the Heiress and turned to me, an eyebrow cocked above his head. "Felt like a change... Weiss is much more pleasant company than the walking sexual harassment case that is Nyanza Torres." The boy replied, making a not too kind sledge against his teammate and his admittedly perverse ways... Nyanza from what I had heard really was a male version of Yang, minus those voluptuous double D's.

I made no reply and Simon eyed me off, his deep blue-gray eyes staring right into my amber ones for a moment before he gave me a wry smirk "So Blake, what are you planning to do with your weekend off?" He asked, his tone friendly yet slightly arrogant as he knew he had caught me off guard with his choice of counter question. I ummed and ahhed for a moment, trying to think of something... anything. "Well I was thinking of hanging out with Yang where ever she planned on going." I answered quickly, instantly regretting my choice of answer as Yang picked up on my answer and faced me, a massive mischievous grin across her face "Oh Blakey, you and me are going to have so much fun with what I got planned." The Blonde whispered seductively into my ear. I merely groaned in defeat, hoping in vain Yang didn't have anything too over the top planned for me tonight. I looked up and saw Simon smirking, almost laughing at my predicament as was Weiss. Sighing I tuned out to the rest of the table's conversations and prepared for our classes today then whatever Yang was going to drag me off to tonight, though I could still feel Simon's gazes burning into my soul.

**Simon's PoV: Combat Class.**

It was my favourite class: Nothing but being able to beat the crap out of whichever poor bastard drew me as an opponent... unless it was Nora, then Dust help me 'cause she is just plain insane. I sat with my team, We had managed to work together fine on a team project for Professor Port that had been due earlier today, I had to admit I was kind of proud of my Team's ability to put aside our personal bullshit to get the job done . Having grown bored of Cardin whaling on some poor little Faunus girl... obviously the ass kicking Weiss and I had handed him hadn't taught him a lesson about humility. I turned to Sienna who was casually scratching behind her dog ears, also seeming quite bored of the match. "So you got planned for our free weekend?" I asked casually, weary that outside of work.. relations within my team were at breaking point.

Sienna snapped out of her boredom and looked over to me, seemingly surprised I was voluntarily communicating with her or anyone else in SNST. "Not sure really: I was kinda hoping to be able to spend time together as a team and try to sort our issues out as a team, SNST is in trouble... if we can't trust and communicate freely it WILL wind us up getting killed." She said, obviously making this an order of sorts rather than a suggestion. I internally groaned, having finally thought I'd managed to strike a balance between our need to work as a team and the sheer fact than Nyanza's, Teal's and My egos were far too large to be able to bond beyond what was absolutely needed.

I weighed up the options, ending up choosing to make one final effort to try and build some team spirit and cooperation "Well I had intended on checking out a weapons shop... You guys are welcome to join and then we can grab a pizza or something, my shout." I said to Sienna, loud enough to get Teal and Nyanza's attention, both of which just shrugged "Sure I'm always up for someone else shouting me a feed." Nyanza added in a smartass way. I rolled my eyes and flipped him off jokingly while Teal had simply gone back to taking notes about the match to try and find weaknesses to exploit against opponents. The match had ended, predictably Cardin pummelling his opponent.

Professor Goodwitch strode into the centre of the arena and began the random matchmaker. "Ok Students, we have time for one more sparing match. The combatants shall be: Simon Alexander and Blake Belladonna."

When I heard that match up my eyes shot straight to the bow wearing ninja who was striding quietly yet confidently down to the arena. I grabbed up my weapon that sat beside me so I could sit down comfortably. As I stood Sienna gave me a small thumbs up, which I returned. Unlike Blake I walked down to the arena slightly shakily and incredibly nervous. However as soon as I took my position opposite her, something inside me just clicked.

No longer was I in an arena at Beacon: I was now on top of a half destroyed building in the Atlesian Alps.

No longer was I surrounded by the sounds of hushed conversations of students: It had been replaced by the sounds of distant battle, mortars, Warhead Gunships, guns and grenades all going off somewhere nearby.

No longer was I standing opposite Blake Belladonna, the girl I had Orphaned: In front of me stood Schwarzer Belladonna, the man who had helped orphan me

No longer was I a repentant, remorseful person just trying to rebuild my shattered life: I was once more a Black Fist soldier of humanity... fighting to destroy the Faunus threat without mercy and without restraint.

I extended my gun staff, my trusty _Vindex Umbra _into its gun mode and I unleashed a large burst of fire right at Schwarzer who disappeared, leaving a hollow clone of himself, looking above me I saw him coming down towards me, a new Katana and weaponised sheath aimed at my head. I commando rolled to my right and as he landed I let loose another volley, only to hit another one of the hollow clones. My opponent had cart wheeled to their left and had charged me, slashing with their weapons which I blocked with my staff.

As our weapons were locked I kicked my enemy away and sprung backwards to create distance between Schwarzer and I so I could extend my weapons blades and effectively engage in melee combat. As the blades extended I flourished my gun staff and charged in howling hatefully, using my semblance to distort time and momentarily slow down my enemy So I could position myself and my weapon in such a way as to allow myself to cut off Schwarzer's escape, I utilised my sudden and burning anger to fuel my strike, which sent my enemy flying across the building and smacking into one of the low walls that lined the roof. I advanced slowly, the tip of my weapon trailing behind me, scrapping and sparking along the ground. My enemy jumped up and fired off several rounds at me from a pistol embedded in the katana's hilt. I absorbed the hits with my Aura, not even bothering to try and dodge. Schwarzer began dodging around towards me, making one final leap and cut at me with the sheath while simultaneously stabbing with the katana.

I dodged the katana and blocked the sheath. Something in my mind told me this wasn't real... I wasn't really fighting Schwarzer because he was dead. But my mind shut it out as I fuelled my Aura more and more with my hate and anger. I once more broke contact and back flipped away from my enemy. Withdrawing a grenade from my pouch I tossed it towards my enemy, and I continued tossing several more grenades at my enemy, trying to prevent them from getting a rhythm in their movements. One grenade went off too close to Schwarzer and he was knocked over, letting out what I could only call a woman's scream but I didn't register that fact as being strange... the man was a coward.

I lunged forward with all the speed I could muster and launched a flurry of strikes against my enemy who managed to block some however about half struck their marks, wearing down my enemies Aura so I could land my signature kill strike and make sure this Faunus never got back up. However I was caught unawares as me enemy used her hollow clones to escape and I overbalanced and nearly lost my footing as I lunged straight through the clone.

Before I could react, my back was pounded with several quick strikes from the Faunus I was fighting. I sprung forward into a series of front flips however my opponent moved quickly and landed a powerful kick to me as I was in midair. My insides were jolted in several directions as I landed against the wall of the building we stood atop. I was dazed and slightly disorientated from the sudden and painful change of direction and stop. I saw my enemy close in, their amber eyes burning with hatred. I dragged myself up and charged back in, our weapons meeting with such force the metallic screech it created was almost deafening. I moved deliberately and with immense power behind my strikes while me enemy moved quickly and deceptively, parrying and countering me. My enemy suddenly flipped away and detached the pistol from their katana and threw it at me, using the ribbon and the gun to bounce it around, peppering me at all angles with bullets from that infernal thing. I used my semblance once more to slow the enemies weapon down and positioned myself to grab it. Doing so I yanked on it, me enemy who was not ready for the move was caught off guard and was flung through the air right into a roundhouse kick from my steel capped boots into their face. My enemy went flying, landing unconscious after smacking their head against the wall of the roof, their Katana laying about half way between me and them.

I holstered my own weapon and picked up the katana trailing it behind me as I strode viciously towards my fallen opponent. My instincts telling me to end them, run them through with their own blade. Within moments I was standing over my enemy, poised to deliver a killing blow... but I couldn't, a small voice in my head wouldn't let me plunge that blade down into their heart of the one I'd sworn many times I'd kill. Tossing down the Katana, my instincts, my memories and their hold over me was broken and slowly I found myself back in the arena area, surrounded by dozens of shocked students as I stood menacingly over an unconscious Blake Belladonna... The girl I had Orphaned.

Once I realised I was in fact not fighting Schwarzer the horror of what I must have done I immediately knelt down beside Blake and checked her vitals forgetting all my suspicion on why she was here, after checking her over I concluded that she was fine... just going to have a serious headache when she awoke.

Miss Goodwitch, Team RWBY and Sienna were all down beside me in moments. I Could see Yang was absolutely distraught... more than I really thought normal for someone like school partners... even if it was a combat school. I stood up and let Miss Goodwitch take over in caring for Blake. I stepped back and quickly exited the arena, making my way into the locker rooms Where I sat in a dark secluded corner and banged my head against the wall until i felt the warmth of blood running down my neck.

"You know Simon, you'll give yourself brain damage if you keep knocking your head around like that." I heard Sienna's voice as she walked across the locker room with the rest of SNST.  
"Yeah, Nah Sienna, I think I've damaged it and the rest of me enough for it not to really matter." I replied, continuing the skull bashing I was subjecting myself to.

I'd been careful to build a facade around SNST: Not to let my own weaknesses or insecurities show. Just like Kruger had... I knew that man worried a lot but he never showed it or any other weakness around us, it was important for a leader to at least look totally in control or how could soldiers (or in our case terrorists) follow a man who couldn't control himself. But right now, I honestly couldn't care... I didn't hate Blake: Yes I was suspicious of her being here... I didn't know if she wanted to hunt me as I had hunted her father. Even if she did I could understand her motives and I would defend myself without malice and without an intent to kill unless necessary ... not like the hate fuelled assault I'd just subjected her to.

"Simon!" I heard Teal yell a moment before she slapped me out of my self-loathing. I looked at my teammate, my face expressionless... not letting onto the storm of thoughts in my head. "What the hell happened there Simon! You seemed like a totally different person during that match. As your teammates we have a right to know what's going on inside that empty brick-like skull of yours!" Teal ordered... her face mere inches from mine.

I sighed, knowing I couldn't get out of this without answering. "I had a flashback... I was back in the Atlesian Highlands as a mercenary, Blake reminded me of someone that once tried to kill me... my mind made me think I was back there. What I saw and heard and felt was exactly the same as it was back then. My body may have been here, but my mind was In Atlas." I replied, not blinking, not even moving.. keeping myself fixated on Teal.

My entire did a double take and looked inquisitively at me, Sienna I could see looked visibly worried. Even Teal looked slightly guilty for her sudden interrogation. I stood up and made my way to get a towel to dab the blood off my head. "Hey Simon, I know you'll probably not want to talk about what just happened. "If you guys still want to... my offer for some pizza after we get to Vale still stands, if you can deal with hanging out with a psycho." I said as I ran my head under a tap, the water hitting the ground red. "Once I've cleaned up, we'll go see Blake... make sure she is ok." I said as I washed the blood off my head. The team nodded in agreement... about the first time I'd asked them to do something and not had any bitching. "We'll also get the nurse to check your head out Simon." Sienna half ordered. I rolled my eyes and nodded in acceptance... knowing it wasn't worth spoiling this moment of tranquillity our team was experiencing.

**Blake Belladonna's PoV: **

I woke up feeling very woozy and slightly disorientated... the last thing I remembered was stepping into the arena for a match against Simon. _'THE MATCH!'_ My mind screamed and I sat up... only to find myself in the infirmary surrounded by my team, JNPR and SNST... of course minus Simon, I knew he didn't exactly like me. "Aww Blakey you're alive!" Yang shouted in exaggerated despair _'Of course she would act in such a way... I admit I do feel a lot better with her around.' _I thought appreciatively of Yang's concern. "Of course she is alive you big blonde brute." Weiss retorted, probably having spent the most part of my time knocked out stopping Yang from trying to murder Simon in revenge.

"So how's your head Blake? The nurse said you'll have to stay overnight as a precaution." Ruby said, slightly upset. I rubbed my head and blew a sigh of relief when I found my bow still in place, unmoved from where I did it up this morning, I guess I had Ozpin to thank for that. "I' am fine Ruby... Guess It is too bad... I was SO VERY looking forward to going out with Yang tonight." I replied, my voice dripping with Sarcasm. Yang looked crestfallen but smiled anyway "Don't worry Blake... next weekend I'll take you out." She said with a playful wink which caused me to groan in frustration at the incorrigible blonde.

"Hey Blake... We just popped in to make sure you were ok, Nora even went and picked a random bunch of flowers from the academy gardens on our way over." Jaune said a bit humouredly as he pointed to the vase containing a random assortment of both grass and flowers which had a beaming Nora next to it. "If you want me to break Simon's skull like he did yours just ask." She said with mock menace.

"Nora... you've already broken me once this semester... please no more coming at me with that infernal hammer." I heard the familiarly irate voice of Simon. Turning I saw him on another bed with a nurse behind him, stitching up his head not even flinching when the needle threaded through his head. "Ugh did you do that Nora?" I asked, kinda worried about Nora's threats. That worry was alleviated once Simon shook his head.

Everyone stayed and talked with me for about half an hour, then everyone had to leave for their next class, all except Simon who had to stay in for observation as well, though only for the rest of classes, not 24 hours like me. Simon strangely seemed very much at ease around me now... none of the previous suspicion or hostility, he still avoided talking or looking at me but I could tell it was out of shame not hate. I wouldn't have complained about the silence except for the fact that no one had brought me a book to read... I'd even read _Ninjas of Love _right in here in public just to pass the time. Eventually growing tired of the awkward silence I turned to face the chocolate haired staff wielder "So Simon, what exactly happened? No one would really tell me of the match." I asked in genuine curiosity. Simon was genuinely shocked that I had talked to him. He hung his head and explained to me about the trick his mind and memories had played on him.

Though he refused to give too many details, I had a sneaking suspicion he may have had a run in with my father, I'd never met any White Fang member's that remotely resembled me or my father. I also highly doubted the Black Fisted had member's looking similar to me in their ranks. I decided to get him alone sometime and get the whole truth out of him... at weapon point if need be. Simon remained quiet mostly, except the odd question and to make sure I was ok as well as to apologise... Maybe I had been wrong in my original judgement of Simon. Eventually Simon was released to go about his weekend once classes had finished, he farewelled me sincerely enough and wished me well. I sighed and tried to get some sleep, seeing as that is all I really could do until I got released sometime tomorrow.

I must have been sleeping a while, at least until I felt something or someone shake my shoulder, I awoke with a start to find none other than Yang sitting by my bedside with her scroll and a pizza box. "Yang, Wh-What are you even doing here? I thought you'd be out partying the night away." I asked, very surprised to see the blonde. Yang chuckled and battered her eye lashes "Well you did say you wanted to spend this free weekend with me, who am I to deny you your wish? Want some pizza?" The buxom blonde asked. I smiled at her, thankful for the thought she'd just shown for me _'This ought to be an interesting night.' _I thought happily.

**Simon's PoV:**

I walked through Vale with SNST towards the business district, I really wanted to check out a weapons store. As we walked I finally had enough of the awkward silence that had surrounded my team ever since I'd left the infirmary. "Ok spit it out guys, I know you all got something to say." I said commandingly, slowing my stride down slightly. My team matched my step "Well Simon, we're all kinda worried about you... We know you haven't had it easy in life, but we feel that you aren't dealing with it well... or at all apart from trying to bash your own skull in every time something breaks your guards down." Sienna said caringly, as if she had extensive experience in dealing with this sort of thing, I made a mental note to pull her aside sometime and ask about it. I sighed "Well truth be told it has either been that or ignoring it as best I can." I replied as if my reaction was completely normal for someone in my situation. I could hear Sienna huff, but Teal spoke up first "Simon... you say we gotta trust you as captain, but it is hard to do that if you're self-loathing, self-harming and obviously suffering some form of PTSD, so it is better for all of us if you just open up a slight bit." I sighed, as much as I wanted to rip into Teal for once more questioning my suitability as leader... I knew she was right.

"I'll endeavour to be more open with my thoughts and feelings... but can the D&amp;M wait for dinner, we've got a weapons store to check out." I replied as I came to the entrance of a large shop. I got an eager grin and walked inside hoping they'd have what I wanted. While Sienna, Teal and Nyanza all went to check out accessories orientated towards huntsmen and huntresses I made my way to another section dedicated to firearms. Getting the attendants attention she came over to me, a warm smile upon her face "Well it isn't every day we get a Hunter looking at firearms." She said, finding the fact I was in this part of the shop somewhat amusing. "Well I enjoy long range sniping as a hobby and a useful skill, and I was hoping to procure some gear to help: Do you by any chance stock any .338 sniper rifles... preferably the Atlesian Arms MX-20 if possible." I replied, hoping that this placed stocked the weapon I wanted.

The attendant smiled and out the back behind her desk, returning a few moments later with a large carry case "One MX-20, Normally there is extensive background checks and waiting times... but Huntsmen are exempt from them. Any particular scopes or other accessories you wanted?" The attendant said. I gave it a few moments of thought. "Yes there is: Advanced Nighthawk Thermal sight, with the x25 digitally enhanced zoom, modified for a left handed shooter. The rest you'll find on this list." I replied handing over a list of the specs I wanted for my new toy _'Kale and Shauno are going to flip out when I outshoot them with this big mofo.'_ I thought cheerfully... fully intending on beginning my search for the pair this weekend once I ditched my team after dinner. The attendant looked through the list and nodded in approval "Well you certainly know exactly what you want... we don't have any MX-20's that have been built for lefties at the current time, but if you leave your contact details it should all be ready in a couple weeks." The attendant said opening up a book "Just fill in your name and scroll frequency and I'll get back to you when your order arrives." I nodded and did as directed, opting to pay upon receiving my order... no way I was handing over nearly 10,000 Lien if not more for this sniper system before I even got it.

Bidding the attendant farewell I made my way into another part of the shop to track my team down. I found Nyanza stocking up on the blades that his _Taunting Gambits_ used while the girls were still nowhere to be found. "Hey Simmo, I just realised, this is the first time I've actually seen you out of either a Beacon uniform or your old merc uniform... should do it more often, might make you more popular with the ladies." he said sending me a knowing smirk and a wink. I had chosen one of the few casual outfits that I had that still fit me: A black T-shirt with a skull printed on the front and jeans with joggers, I even had a black bandana and sunglasses on.

I rolled my eyes at the statement about my popularity with the opposite sex... sure I noticed how beautiful the women around me were... especially Velvet and Weiss, but I honestly had little interest in anything romantic. Nor did I care much how they perceived me, I doubted any of them would have much interest in me either. regardless of what I wore.

I rolled my eyes at my teammate "Oh yeah, and what makes you such a love guru" I taunted. Nyanza shook his head and laughed before he made his way to the counter to pay for his supplies while I went off to find the girls. I knew that Nyanza was still pretty pissed about the beating I'd handed him earlier in the semester but I knew also he was putting in the effort to try and patch things up, I guess I could indulge him in his antics a bit in return. I found the girls up in of course the clothing isle, Sienna was trying on a combat skirt. Leaning against a shelf I cleared my throat "Will you ladies be done by next week?" I said sarcastically. Teal shot me a glare "Oh now don't you start with those jokes... I heard enough of them from Nyanza." I simply shrugged "Well Nyanza and I are ready to leave... so hop to it ladies." I said as a half order. Upon leaving the weapon's shop I looked around the street, looking for any unusual activity... I found none, but I just had the tingly feeling in my spine that I was being watched and that made me uneasy.

**Unknown's PoV:**

I looked at my target leave the weapon's shop, accompanied by 2 females and 1 male companion.. his teammates according my the dossier on my target. I watched them walk down the street... I had to get Simon alone and it had to be after dark, that way no one would witness what transpired When we did come face to face. I followed them, keeping a good distance and keeping myself amongst the crowds, not bringing too much attention. For 3 blocks I followed them, until they entered a pizzeria. I entered a pub across the street and watched, and waited for the right time to strike.

**Simon's PoV: **

I lead the team to find a pizza joint... finding one about 3 blocks away. Taking up a booth and having the table filled with 4 pizza's (1 Ham and Pineapple, Meatlovers, Prawn and Pepperoni) We sat down to eat, me eagerly waiting to see what Nyanza came up with... I knew he was in over his head, I could almost feel that 50 Lien entering my wallet. We made small talk for most of the evening: I learned more about Signal from Nyanza and I learned more than I ever really wanted to know about Teal's family. Though once more Sienna was quiet, she didn't open up to me or Teal and Nyanza about her life... and that had me worried, if even I could open up slightly (the fact what I said was slightly altered from the truth aside) I didn't want to even hazard a guess about what Sienna was hiding, lest it prejudice me against her, I reaffirmed my mental note to get Sienna alone and to talk to her... she seemed too shy to do it in public

I was quite impressed and very surprised when Nyanza even managed to get Teal to giggle like a school girl when he told us of his first attempt at swinging from trees using his gauntlet's tethers which ended in him hanging 100m off the ground... stuck. All in all it was a very good evening spent with my team, but it had to end unfortunately, about 7pm I escorted my team back to the landing pads for the hop across to Beacon. I was staying behind to begin my search for Kale and Shauno, I still had that nagging feeling that I was being watched, but I put it down to paranoia resurfacing after my mind went haywire in combat class.

After farewelling my team I began to explore the more unsavoury parts of Vale, just exploring and getting a feel for the place before I began any specific investigations. It was about 10pm and I'd been walking for 3 hours straight around a red light district, I decided to head to find some food to keep me going for the night. Heading up a dark alleyway I got that nagging feeling again, only this time it was joined by an urgency that suggested immediate danger. It was too late, I heard someone jump off a roof and land behind me "Hello Simon, I've been looking for you." I heard a menacing voice behind me. Turning around slowly and nervously I saw the figure step out into the light supplied by a lamp post, I instantly recognised the face and my blood ran cold "You!"

**A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Have a Cliff hanger**

I'd like to thank **AnonymousReading **for the idea about Blake fighting Simon... I altered the idea slightly to fit the story but a big thanks for the prompt! -CC Signing off


	27. Old Friends

**Chapter 27: Old Friends: Friday Night, Week 4 Simon's PoV:**

"You" I snarled as my blood ran cold and my hands limbered up by my side, ready for a scrap. The figure merely chuckled as two black clad thugs flanked him and three more of the thugs appeared behind me at the other end of the alleyway, blocking my escape route.

"Yes Simon, been a long time hasn't it... Since we found you half dead on that building top after you nearly got killed by that disgusting Faunus. Should have just left you to die had I known that you'd abandon the cause." My former friend and comrade Levi Hartman replied, his jaded face in a twisted scowl.

"I abandoned that cause because it wasn't worth fighting, killing or dying for Levi... And from what I remember you were the least fanatical about killing Faunus out of all of us." I replied coolly, trying not to aggravate the situation to a point I'd be forced into a lethal fight... no doubt I'd incur severe wrath from Goodwitch if I slaughtered these chumps and frankly that woman scared the shit out of me.

"Things change Simon... we all didn't remain static in life while you were out working for Roman or the Schnees, we lived our lives to and we changed as our lives changed around us." Levi shot straight back, his hands at his waist where I could see his tomahawks/SMG's sat in holders attached to his belt, just waiting to be drawn.

I chuckled slightly at Levi's sound logic about life. "Well I'll give you the point for that one. Now I must wonder... why would you possibly want to be finding me so bad you have these half dozen idiot goons to back you up, wasn't that normally Sarah's job?." I motioned to the heavily armed goon squad around me.

"Well to kill you of course Simon... you're a deserter and a traitor to the cause and it is my job to find and kill traitors." Came the eerily emotionless reply as Levi withdrew the tomahawks and flourished them menacingly an almost animalistic growl emanating from Levi as his mood did a complete 180 "And never EVER mention Sarah's name... You filthy deserter have no privilege to even speak of her. Boys... kill this scum." He snarled and his goons advanced on me.

I had my gun staff and my gauntlets but I didn't have my webbing which meant I had no grenades which would have made this whole thing much easier on me. The alleyway was narrow, much to narrow for me to fully utilise _Umbra Vigilans _so I didn't even bother drawing it, instead I extended my gauntlets and jumped up, using my aura to push myself higher, above the hail of gunfire that erupted just where I had been, but it was quickly redirected to the fire escape I had landed on. I was being caged in and peppered with bullets, I could feel my Aura blocking them but being severely drained while doing so, I had to get out of this and quick.

Jumping down off the fire escape I lunged at one of the goons at the far end of the alley, away from Levi. He had a sawn off shotgun which I caught a blast from at point blank, it was enough to kill my momentum, I could feel my aura getting painfully low from the amount of concentrated firepower i was absorbing.

I managed to scramble to my feet and crash tackle the shotgun wielder, repeatedly plunging my gauntlet's blades into his chest until it was nothing but a mushy red mess. Turning my attention to another thug, this one carrying a small compact SMG, which chose this exact moment to run out of ammo. Smirking viciously I charged and rammed one of my Gauntlet's blades up underneath his ribs, tearing apart his heart cavity and much of his lungs, he fell to the ground wounded mortally, screaming in pain. Looking around I'd lost visual of the 3rd goon down this end... before I could find him however I felt something jab into my back and then came the electric shock that immobilised me. The bastard had gotten behind me and used a taser on me. I felt a 2nd and then a 3rd jolt and finally my legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground, with 0 control over my limbs.

I could see the other two goons that had sticked near Levi haul me up to face my former comrade while the 3rd one stood behind me with his taser at the ready. Levi strode arrogantly over and launched a punt kick into my ribs. "You didn't think I'd let you get away with a quick execution did you? No... Traitors need to suffer... just as Sarah suffered because of traitorous deserters." Levi growled, as he launched another kick, this time to my face. I felt woozy after the strike, I was on the verge of black out... and I knew if I did go under that I'd never wake up again so I had to stall.

"Levi.. what happened to Sarah?" I asked, I genuinely wanted to know what had happened to her... Though I had a hunch that it was nothing good would come of me asking that question. I could see Levi's Aura flare in anger "She and I stayed with the Fist after you, Gregory and Alex all deserted, we continued the fight. But one mission we were given separate squads of troops to lead... in the middle of the fight her soldiers cut and ran! Leaving her to be captured, tortured, raped and eventually murdered by the White Fang monsters. It was the fault of deserters that she met that horrible fate and now I've promised to hunt down every deserter and make them pay for their crimes against the cause and against humanity itself." Levi replied as he levelled the barrel of one of his weapons to my forehead.

"You and Gregory were always the strongest in our group... with Sophia before she died you 3 were the leaders, we would have followed you to hell and back and we did! But no.. you developed a bleeding heart, grew weak and left the cause... and now here you are, so weak you can't even overpower 5 non-aura users. Pathetic! Goodbye Simon." Levi went to fire his weapon the shot never came as the heads of the thugs holding me exploded simultaneously and a newcomer to the fight entered the fray, I heard them land behind the thug holding the taser, I heard the tell tale sound of a throat being slit.

Knowing I was free of the taser I sprung up and launched myself backwards, behind my newfound saviour, I was smart enough to know I was too beat up to be able to fight Levi and win. The newcomer wore a black body glove, a light set of webbing and a balaclava, complete with thermal goggles to cover their eyes... in short as menacing as possible in a dark setting such as this. I saw light glinting off the cutting edge of two long daggers that had been painted matte black except for the cutting edges. Levi had taken up position near the end of the alleyway, no one was nearby... all having been scared off by the gunfire, which from what I heard was a normal thing in this particular part of town.

"Ahh Cipher-9... or do you still carry your name? I've heard that your employers make you give up your name when you get a designation. I wondered how long it would take for those cockroaches Vale Intelligence to send you after me and my Brothers in Arms in the Black Fist." Levi laughed nervously, knowing her was now outnumbered and out gunned. I looked to the mask figure, They stood firm, his daggers at the ready "Surrender Levi, We don't have to fight... I know people who can help you!" This mysterious _Cipher-9 _ tried to reason with Levi, trying to coax him into putting his weapons down. Levi just laughed maniacally "I need no help... All I need is revenge and for all the scum like your little friend Simon there to die!" Levi yelled as he threw down a smokebomb and disappeared, leaping and running across the roofs of nearby buildings.

But this new figure didn't pursue Levi, instead they turned to me... I was barely conscious by this point from the severe concussion that Levi gave me, but I didn't allow myself to slide under. I heard the masked agent got on his radio "Watcher-3? It is Cipher-9. Tell Keeper that I have retrieved the package, I'll take him to Xiong's to recover. Cipher-9 out." I was on the verge of blackout until Cipher-9 injected me with what I could only assume was adrenaline to keep me going "Come on Simmo, can't have you slipping under... you got concussion, going to sleep or into unconsciousness can lead to coma. Now get your worthless ass up and follow me." My newfound saviour ordered commandingly. I complied and got groggily to my feet. I saw a black van pull up at a road at the end of the alleyway and its door slid open, Cipher-9 helped me inside and joined me in the back, the door slid closed by itself and I could feel us driving off.

I was feeling slightly better from the shot and I could think more clearly, my head and ribs still hurt like hell and I still had the taser nodes stuck in my back, but I was alive and that was certainly a plus. I saw the masked Cipher-9 grab out a med kit "Turn around Simon, I need to get those nodes out of your back.. unless you're into back piercings of course." The masked man joked. I growled and turned around, without warning I felt a pair of pliers grip one node and rip it out, then the other in quick succession. I grunted in pain, and resisted the urge to turn around and punch this masked Cipher agent out.

Turning around to face the masked agent I could see in the dim light of the van that they had removed their goggles and mask and for the 2nd time tonight I'd come face to face with another former comrade, but this one I was much happier to see than the now twisted and psychopathic Levi: in front of me was none other than Gregory Volker, the closest thing I had to an older brother. Gregory was much leaner and not as solidly built as the Gregory I remembered, probably a result of not enough food or shelter during his passage from Atlas to Vale. "Gregory? So this is where you bloody well ended up! Thanks for the save back there mate." I said, a weak chuckle to my voice. Gregory just eyed me carefully, probably sizing me up compared to when we had last met. "You were stupid to be in that part of town... the papers may not know your current face which gives you some anonymity but you have a massive target on your back... Levi proved that tonight. What were you even doing out alone? Don't you have a team to back you up!?" Came the frustrated reply. I hung my head down embarrassed  
"I was actually looking for a couple of snipers I worked with during my time with Roman Torchwick. Kale Smyth and Shaun Morgan." I replied, hoping that maybe Gregory could give me a lead on where to find them. I could hear Gregory chuckle lightly. "Let's just get you cleaned up first... you're nearly as ugly now as you were the last time I saw you on that damned rooftop in Atlas, we'll find your mates later." Gregory replied.

The van made a stop at a safe house Gregory utilised so I could clean myself up and let Gregory properly clean and dress the wounds where the taser nodes had been, Gregory hadn't given me any painkillers for my injuries and I still hurt all over but I didn't let my pain show on my face nor did I verbally bitch about it. Eventually we left and the van took us off once more. After 20 minutes of silence the van once more began to slow and Gregory placed a large trench coat on over his body glove and webbing. The door opened and I saw a club, a small line of people outside waiting to enter, I followed nervously behind Gregory, trying hard not to double over in pain. Gregory flashed something to one of the guards, who was wearing a bowler hat, black suit and red tie I could also see the bulge of a pistol in the small of his back. Walking into the club I wondered why Gregory had brought me here: not exactly the place to bring a person with a concussion, the music was making my head feel like someone was hitting it with a jackhammer.

I saw hundreds of people on the dance floor or in the various booths around the sides of the floor, flirting, taking, living a carefree life or trying to escape their troubles. I saw several dozen guards all armed milling about the floor, some talking, others serving drinks but most seemed to just be making sure no one got too violent or out of hand. I followed Gregory who was met by two similar looking girls, twins I'd guess: One wore White and had blades attached to her heels and the other was clad in Red and had claws worn over her hands. They led Gregory and I through a set of doors and up some stairs to what looked like a private lounge, one of several I'd guess. Thankfully it was soundproofed so I didn't have to deal with the sound of music splitting my head open. The twins had a brief, hushed conversation with Gregory before they left.

A couple of the suited staff brought up a tray with a bottle of Vodka, mixers and several glasses both tumblers and shot glasses. Gregory poured a straight shot and handed it to me "It'll help with the pain Simmo, and also to make you less of an asshole." Gregory joked. I rolled my eyes and flipped my friend off... I hadn't seen him in 18 months yet he joked as if it had been a week since we had last spoken. I threw my head back and downed the vodka shot, the pain in my head and ribs being replaced by a burning in my throat. I coughed a couple times, it had been a while since I'd shotted vodka... in fact the last time had been the last time I'd seen Gregory. "Ugh How can you drink this stuff straight Gregory... even when we were back at the training camp You'd be raiding the staff of their vodka supplies and you'd just scull it down." I shot at my friend who just laughed at my coughing. I heard the door open behind me I expected and I heard a pair of sniggers "Wow I never knew he was such a lightweight... This will just make things more fun for us as the night progresses." I recognised the voices instantly, turning around I saw two figures both in black suits and red ties that signalled that they worked here: Kale and Shauno, the pair of assholes that Kruger had wanted me to find. "Oh you're one to talk Shauno... I always remember you being the first to vomit when we brought alcohol back to the camp after missions to towns with a pub." I shot straight back, not even missing a beat.

The four of us stood silently for a moment before almost simultaneously we all began smirking and chuckling "It's good to see you all again... Kale, Shauno: Kruger's going to be ecstatic to hear you guys are alive, though I think Sanderson will be cursing the universe that you're still around to potentially make his life hell." I said as I walked up and shook the marksmen's hands, before getting pulled into a group hug between fellow survivors. "Well Sanderson can just bite us... No way in hell we're dying anytime soon." Kale said humorously as he and Shauno took seats around the small table and poured themselves some vodka. I could faintly smell gunpowder on Kale and Shauno and I remembered the 2 goons' heads exploding almost simultaneously. "Say Kale, I wouldn't happen to owe you life to you for a 2nd time?" I asked knowingly. The marksman sipped at his vodka and smirked "It was a hell of a shot I think... pinpoint accuracy and synchronisation to make that. The look on your face when their heads popped like a virgin's cherry was just priceless." Kale replied cheekily before taking another sip of his drink. I chuckled at the perverse remark, it was kinda good to see that the snipers hadn't lost their wit or humour.

"So Simon, What happened to you? We heard nothing about you for 18 months then you turn up at none other than Beacon!" Shauno asked curiously. I felt the numb pain in my head coming back so I took another shot of Vodka. I could feel the alcohol starting to numb the pain again. "Yeah... I spent 6 months in hospital, Bloody Roman and Shevchenko fucked me up big time. Though Shevchenko, Savage and every single other Whiskey Squad prick is now dead for thinking they could mess with me." I replied, an edge of anger to my voice. Kale and Shauno nodded passively, getting my implication that Danny and Luke had met their ends at my hands.

I continued on "Then once I got out of hospital I ended up working with the SSB at White Castle." I said casually, eyeing the marksmen as I said it. Both had been in the middle of sipping their drinks and they both inhaled and half way choked on their vodka. "Wait WHAT?! You worked with the SSB?" Kale asked in astonishment. Shauno just looked slightly shocked and a bit disappointed. I nodded "Kale before you ask... no I didn't do any kill missions for them like you two did, Just a bit of advanced interrogation on Savage and then 12 months service as personal bodyguard to Weiss." I explained exactly what I did with the SDC. The marksmen's looks went from one of shock to one of curiosity. "You? You spent an entire year in close proximity to Weiss Schnee and didn't go totally bonkers and try to kill her just to make her stop being such an uptight bitch." Shauno exclaimed, both of the snipers just began to laugh uncontrollably at the thought of someone with as short a temper as I had being stuck near Weiss. I scoffed at their laughter "And it is statements like that is why you never got cushy jobs at White Castle during your time with the SSB. Besides, Weiss isn't that bad once you get used to her." I shot back, defending my friend while simultaneously insulting the marksmen.

However the Marksmen just grabbed on my defence of Weiss and turned it against me "Ooh sounds like someone's got a little crush! Or oh... Oh you didn't go there with the Heiress did you?" Shauno asked, sending me a knowing wink. Gregory and Kale set down their drinks and eyed me off questioningly _'Of course these perverted assholes would think this up... I really wonder how I' am these guys friends sometimes.'_ I thought to myself, once more feeling very self conscious with the direct attention on my personal life. I could feel my cheeks getting hot _'Damned Vodka... they bloody planned this the bastards.'_ I thought angrily. I could see their look of anticipation growing and I finally pulled myself together "No... I did not and never even considered having sex with Weiss you perverted fucks... all 3 of you, you're guilty as well Gregory." I snarled half angrily half jokingly... these were my mates so I had to expect this kind of crude humour. Kale and Shauno threw up their arms defensively "Whoa look out, someone's feisty... or hiding something." Kale retorted, obviously not wanting to let go of this line of joking. I shot Kale a death glare that would have put even a pissed off Sanderson to shame. "Trust me, nothing ever has or ever will happen between me and the Heiress... so drop it." I growled lowly, making it very clear this topic of conversation was over.

Kale and Shauno just winked knowingly, letting me know I hadn't heard the last of this topic and poured themselves some more vodka. "Well Kale and Shauno: What happened to you guys in the last 18 or 19 months?" I asked, trying to find something I could hold against them. The marksmen shrugged "Well we used some of the Lien we had made from our time in the Fist to jump on an airship straight to Vale. Then we spent the next 3 months laying low and trying to find legitimate work." Kale began, his tone reminiscent and distant. "When we couldn't find any decent, honest work. We eventually turned to drinking and partying our money away here. It was fun for a while being able to just be constantly drunk or scoring with the local women but we eventually got bored of having nothing to do beyond that apart from spend all day at shooting ranges destroying static paper targets." Shauno continued, his tone despairing. "Well one night we were kinda drunk when these twin girls: The Beautiful Melanie and Miltiades Malachite come over and strike up a conversation, saying they'd seen us around quite a bit and wanted to get to know us better. So of course us being... well being us saw it an opportunity to score with a couple of hot twins so we answered all their questions and told a few stories about our exploits as marksmen... they were really impressed." Kale took over, a slight chuckle coming into his voice at the memory. I chuckled and rolled my eyes at the two, how typical of them to think a conversation was going to mean they were getting laid. "Well they eventually asked us to follow them... of course we did without hesitation. Next thing we knew we were up in this very room talking with their boss and the man who runs this club Hei Xiong, though everyone just calls him _Junior_. Well he seemed impressed with our skills as snipers and offered us jobs to work with him and here we've been ever since, more than a year." Shauno finished, it was obvious they'd told this story a few times with how smoothly they delivered it.

It was at this point that I just started laughing "You guys actually thought that those two had any interest in you? Wow you guys must have really been paralytic from the booze that night. They're like 10 years younger than you two." I managed to choke out between my laughs. Kale and Shauno rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly "Yeah, in hindsight and having worked with them on a few jobs we really can see that there was no interest... Miltiades was very standoffish and kept quiet and kept distant while Melanie was up in our faces, pretty much interrogating our drunken asses for their boss who seemed to be in need of a couple long range shooters." Shauno answered seeing as Kale was downing another vodka. I managed to bring my laughter under control after about a minute of almost suffocation. I was feeling much better by this point, a combination of mind numbing alcohol and my aura going to work had lessened the pain I was in significantly.

Once we'd all calmed down from the Marksmen's stories I once more turned to Kale and Shauno "So what kinda work do you guys do for Junior?" I asked, curious as to how their sniper skills would be utilised. Kale shrugged "Mostly intimidation: Someone who needed a message sent to them would find a bullet going a couple inches to the side of their head as they left their homes or pictures of their children in our crosshairs sent to them. We do very little actual killing these days, which is 100% fine by us: Except for this one mission where we were working with Vale's spec ops unit _The Head Hunters_ to assassinate this scum-sucking rogue huntsman that owed Junior money. The SpecOps guys had this spunky dyke working for them as a sniper, bit of a looker and fun to drink with but damn she had some serious anger issues not to mention the fact she batted for the other team, she Kinda reminded Shauno of you with the attitude and anger." Kale rambled on about this lesbian sniper.

I however pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration "Yes, Yes... Enough about this sniper that you seem infatuated with... Now what about the mission you bloody drongo?" I chided my mate. Kale flipped me off before taking another sip of his drink and clearing his throat "Well it was in this White Fang camp just outside the kingdom... we were using an Aura Penetrating Rifle for the shot: The APR is the epitome of Anti-Hunter weaponry, a specially designed combination of dust crystals and one hell of a lethally big round to tear straight through even the most powerful Aura shield, only good for assassinations due to it only firing about 2 rounds per minute. Well the mission went haywire when the Fang turned on the scum-sucker we were there to kill. some redheaded asshole with a katana and a serious temper problem took our targets head right off his shoulders. The Dyke and I prepare to get the fuck out of there when this black haired cat Faunus took a swipe at us... Well I did the most badass thing ever, fired the APR at this Black Haired Bitch point blank. All while standing up without support, the recoil from the APR sent me flying... was literally the most badass thing ever... of all time." Kale concluded his story. I gawked slack jawed at what I had just heard, not sure whether to believe it... I looked to Shauno and Gregory for confirmation: both nodding that it was truthful. "Wow, sounds like you really have had one hell of a time here" I replied, still slightly stunned.

Kale and Shauno chuckled somewhat nervously "Simmo, you don't know the half of it." Shauno said as he took another drink. Gregory however was nearly hysterical at this point "Oh guys... you skipped the best part: your capture and time in a White Fang prison. Before other Head Hunters and I had to come rescue your sorry asses." Gregory laughed heartily. I looked to the marksmen and just burst out laughing as well, I didn't know exactly what Gregory found so funny but his laughter was infectious.

While Gregory and I were style in the midst of laughing fits, the door to the lounge and in came the Red and white clad Malachite twins as well as an immensely tall man, he dwarfed Kale height wise, which is no small feat given that Kale was 6ft 6 inches tall. "Ok you two jokers... I got business to discuss with these two gentlemen. So rack off and try not to destroy anything or get into any fights: it is the twins you'll have to deal with for any misbehaviour." The man, who I assumed was Junior ordered the marksmen. Kale and Shauno shrugged and finished off their drinks before standing and making their way to the door. Kale turned and looked down at Melanie "Oh I wouldn't mind dealing with her at all." Kale said flirtatiously, making a kissing motion at the white clad twin who reached up and slapped the sniper across the face. Kale's smile didn't falter as he strode out of the lounge and down to the club floor with Shauno followed by the twins who seemed to act as deputies to Junior.

Junior took a seat and poured himself a drink "So Cipher, the girls tell me you need some information on this fellow you ran into tonight while you were renting my marksmen. I hope your bosses are still paying for the information I pass you." Junior said in a business like tone, making sure it was clear he wasn't going to be pushed around or intimidated by the authorities. "I' am sure Keeper will authorise the funds to pay for any **USEFUL **information you provide us on not only Levi, but also anything and everything you can dig up on currently active Black Fist operatives conducting operations in Vale." Gregory countered, not one to be intimidated either. Junior grunted "I'll see what I can do... These guys are no friends of mine so you can guarantee I won't withhold anything from you about this group." Junior said in a firm businesslike tone as he sipped his Vodka. Gregory stared Junior down for a good 10 seconds before nodding and offering to shake Junior's hand "Well then, seeing as you're going to be much more forthcoming with information than you usually are when I go after your criminal pals, how can I refuse... I'll bring the payment with me from Keeper once you have something for me." Junior smiled and took Gregory's hand and shook it "Good, now a toast in celebration of our latest deal." Junior chuckled happily, pouring 3 shots of vodka. Each of us taking one we toasted and took the shots. Once the shots had been drunk Junior stood "Well as much as I'd love to continue this thoroughly productive conversation I do have other business to attend to, gentlemen enjoy your night." Junior farewelled us and left.

I looked to Gregory questioningly "What was that about?" Gregory simply shrugged at my question  
"Well Junior has informers all over Vale, in every government department, every criminal gang: Junior knows everything. And he happily sells said information to whomever pays most for it. He runs this club to both bring in legitimate income from club goers and as a meeting place to hand over information in exchange for Lien." Gregory answered casually, like he didn't even care he was making deals with a criminal. "Yeah I get that... but why go to him for information? You're a fucking intelligence agent!" I countered. Gregory rolled his eyes at me "Yes but there are more pressing issues that take up most of the resources of Vale Intelligence. Assigned to investigating Black Fist operations in Vale there is a total of: 1 Watcher Agent, 3 Fixer Agents, 4 Minder Agents and me.. only 1 Cipher Agent at all, though we're lucky because the Keeper has taken a keen interest in this operation which means we can access more resources as they become available from other areas." Gregory replied. I however was confused big time "Umm Gregory... please translate what the hell you just said? Watchers? Minders? Fixers? Also What the hell is a _Keeper_?"

Gregory chuckled "Oh sorry... forgot you wouldn't be used to how things work for me. Well it is simple: Watchers are analysts; they sit in the HQ and go over all of our information and try to make sense of it all in the big picture. Fixers are technical specialists, good at rigging up wire taps or spy or remote assassination devices. Minders; Well they provide in mission support for Fixers and Ciphers... the driver of the van that picked us up was my Minder, _Minder-27_. And finally Ciphers like me are the experts at all the hands on, down and dirty black ops stuff. Infiltration, espionage, assassinations things like that. As for the Keeper: Well he is the overseer of all operations, reporting directly to the Minister of Intelligence and Internal Security." came the thorough reply. I nodded slowly, processing this new information.

Gregory and I sat in silence for a couple moments before he looked at his watch "Well it is getting late now Simon, you can crash at my place for tonight and you can head back to Beacon or go about your usual business as normal, but be away... you'll be in constant danger so long as Levi and his fanatical comrades are around." Gregory said as he stood. Before we left I had one more question though. "Gregory... what happened to Levi? I can see that he'd be pissed about losing Sarah... but he seems to have gone totally off the rails." I stated as fact rather than a question. I heard Gregory sigh sadly before he turned to face me "The Levi we knew is dead... he died with Sarah in a very literal way. They shared a semblance: Telepathy and mind reading. They stopped talking to each other and only communicated mentally. I can only assume that Levi felt everything that those White Fang butchers did to her when she was captured, so yeah... totally off the rails he went." I explained bluntly and emotionlessly. I missed a step at hearing this explanation _'Poor fucking Levi... We need to help you.' _I thought to myself as I followed Gregory out of the club. Passing the dance floor I heard a really light dance beat being pumped out of the speakers I burn!  
_"Can't hold me now,  
You got nothing that can stop me.  
I burn!  
Swing all you want.  
Like a fever I will take you down"_

As I walked out the door I chuckled _'This would be the sort of place I could see Yang coming to for some fun.'_

**A/N: **This shall be the final _From Hunted to Hunter _update for 2014... it has been an amazing journey so far (with plenty more planned for 2015) and I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read this not-so-little-anymore story of mine, and an even bigger thank-you for those who have Favourite, Followed and reviewed: The feedback has helped me to improve immensely over the 4 months I have been writing this story. Even though _Hunter _is done for 2014... I have got a couple of one shots planned before I go away for my working holiday in the new year, so look out for those.

Remember if you like the story and want to keep up to date with it to **Follow ** or **Favourite **the story... especially as this maybe the last update for a couple of months as I go away on vacation.

This chapter especially the appearance of _Kale _and _Shauno _is dedicated to **xThat One Personx **who borrowed the marksmen for their Fanfic _"Dog Days" _the events and characters of which I referenced here... so check their story out if you want to see more of the smartass snipers as well as some other OC's that may or may not have a part to play in _Hunter_ later on.

Also major points to whomever can point out the video game reference laced throughout this chapter. -CC Signing off.


	28. Coffee Cures All

**A/N: **Welcome one and all to the first _Hunter_ update for 2015, I hope you all enjoyed Christmas and New Years... I certainly did. I' am also Sorry for not updating for nearly a month, but I just needed a break to recharge my batteries and enjoy time with my family (whom I only see for no more than 6 weeks a year)

It seems that my snipers _Kale &amp; Shauno _are quite popular among my readers, they are so much fun for me to write and I look forward to having them play a much larger role in things to come.

I got a couple of reviews from guests who enjoyed my referencing Red Vs Blue in Chapter 2 (using Sarge and Agent Connecticut as Police officers). Glad you liked that and there are more RvB references to be found if you look closely :P

Also in response to a review from _**Deathknight999**_: I shall endeavour to include more Velvet (and the rest of her team) in the coming chapters. -CC signing on for 2015.

**Chapter 28: Coffee Cures All, Saturday, Week 4. Simon's PoV:**

I woke up feeling like shit: my head was pounding from the concussion and the infernal music that club was playing last night, my stomach was churning from the hangover due to over-indulging in vodka. My back felt like it was burning from the taser and my neck was cramped from sleeping on a uncomfortable couch. _'Ugh I haven't felt this bad since my last hospital... damn I' am going soft, it was too easy at White Castle and I lost my toughness! Stupid, Soft Simon!' _I mentally berated myself as I dragged myself up off the couch and over towards the bathroom to try and freshen up and make myself look somewhat human again.

Passing by the kitchenette I saw several objects on the counter: A change of clothes, a bottle of water, painkillers, keys and a note. Picking up the note I saw it was from Gregory:  
_Simon_

_Duty Calls, had to go meet Keeper to brief him about Levi. I've left you all that you need to recover from last night, hope you are alright and enjoyed catching up with the snipers. You'll be working with them a lot in things to come, just like old times aye?_

_I'll be in contact sometime in the next week to brief you on what happens next. We need to help Levi, help him see he is in the wrong here and hopefully help him through the mental pain he's going through before any more people get hurt or Levi's mind degrades too much to recover._

_\- Gregory Ilan Volker (Cipher-9)_

I looked at the note and sighed _'What have I gotten myself into now! _I lamented as I reread the note. I was slightly angry at Gregory: not for the fact he wanted me to help find and save Levi from himself, but the fact he _Told _me I was going to, not even giving me the choice... I don't appreciate being forced into things like I had been with the Black Fist and the SSB. I didn't dwell on that slight anger, instead taking some pain killers and grabbing the change of clothes and going into the bathroom looking in the mirror I could see my cheek had swollen and my eyes were blackened.

I ended up sitting under the shower for about half an hour: trying to let the heat clear my head but to no avail, the Hangover ruled my brain for now. I pressed my head in my hands and rubbed my temples _'Never drinking EVER again!' _I thought as I dragged myself up and turned the water off _'Ugh I need Coffee... and greasy bacon and gooey eggs with a hash brown! That'll fix me right up'_ I thought smiling at the idea of a nice big breakky. Getting changed I felt a little better in my neck and muscles but my headache and back as well as my stomach were still feeling wretched. Walking back to the lounge where my weapons, armour and bandolier were stored I noticed a computer with a CCT link on it. _'Of course, guy's probably had someone in the Intelligence agency hack a link for him.' _I thought. Then I suddenly remembered I needed to make contact with Ty and tell him about finding Kale and Shauno. I just hoped he'd be available to speak to, it had been a month since I'd heard from him and I hoped that the old bastard hadn't croaked of old age on me. Activating the console I was prompted by a hologram on where I wished to call. I entered in Ty's name and location. I listened and waited for a connection to be made...

**The Kruger residence, Vacuo. Ty Kruger's PoV** :

I had just finished yet another briefing to the Vacuo Ruling Council after having my squadron stood down to have its numbers and equipment replenished after the raid. So far the incident was being kept Top Secret, especially the Atlesian Army launchers found at the camp as such a revelation would incite war cries throughout Vacuo and damage relations and trust between the two kingdoms which was something the council wished to avoid without concrete proof. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the data stick that I'd retrieved from the command bunker that I had destroyed afterwards. "Tell me your secrets, what was going on in that complex? You've got the stories of ghosts on you and I intend on finding out oh little data stick." I said commandingly to the inanimate object, desperately wanting to know why I had to sacrifice dozens of soldiers. Soldiers whose families I've had to visit to tell them why their loved ones weren't coming home and whose funerals I'd attended. It's a ritual I've had to complete more times in the last 35+ years than I'll ever tell, but it NEVER EVER got any easier. Sighing I put the data stick into a lockbox in my desk and opened my bottle of scotch, I really needed to calm my nerves before my anger got the better of me... I had extremely high blood pressure and my doctor was getting worried about the tempo of anger and physical activity I kept up. She was also unimpressed with my drinking but i had told the doc to get fucked on that point, I deserved my alcohol after all the bullshit I'd gone through.

As I sat down in my studies desk my computers holographic display popped up showing a long range Cross Continental Transmission from Vale. I didn't recognise the frequency but I had a fair idea who'd be calling I smirked slightly happily, it had been far too long since I'd talked to Simon and I felt quite guilty for not contacting him. I clicked to accept the call and on the screen popped up Simon, looking very worse for wear. "Simon, good to hear from you, I' am sorry I haven't been in contact lately, duty calls. I'll explain that later. But how have you been my boy?" I asked happily, just glad he was safe. Simon honestly did look like shit, probably stressed or been in a serious shitfight. "I've been better, some asshole Black Fist wannabe shot me with a damned taser last night!" The Teenager bitched. The mere mention of that group sent a shiver up my spine and a grimace covered my face. "What do you mean Simon?! Talk me through what happened. Start at the beginning." I commanded Rum squad's thief. Simon nodded and calmed himself down before talking me through how he the newspapers had run stories of him being in Vale and at Beacon, his Team, that the Faunus he had Orphaned was also at Beacon.

He told me of how he went to search for Kale and Shauno ended in him being ambushed by a Vale based offshoot of _The Black Fist_ led by an old friend of Simon's who was hunting former _Black Fist _operatives. I processed these developments and cursed. _'So the news reports had been correct!' _I mentally swore. "Ok Simon, what about Kale and Shaun? Did you find the marksmen?!" I asked somewhat panicky, hoping I hadn't lost two more men. Simon, detecting my distress grinned widely "Well Kale and Shauno were once again my guardian snipers... saved my ass from the thugs trying to kill me." Came the happy reply. I breathed a massive sigh of relief, I felt a small tear forming in the corner of my eye. "They made it. They made it Simon... Now only Lachlan remains unaccounted for." I said happily.

Simon nodded and then suddenly turned serious "Ty, now that I've given you the good news... maybe you can enlighten me as to what you've been doing for a damned month?" Simon asked, somewhat demandingly obviously not going to take no for an answer. Sighing I knew I owed Simon of all people an explanation. "I've gone back into active duty with the Vacuo Militia as a LT. Colonel, retirement is too boring and dull for me... That and it is better that an old broken bastard like me be thrown into the crucible rather than a fresh faced teenager who hasn't even experienced his first love." I replied. Simon frowned, knowing I was talking about him and others like him. "I know there's more to this than just the fact you've gone back on active duty... what's happened out in Vacuo?" Simon asked, pushing for more info. Sighing I retold the harrowing tale of the raid. Simon listened intently as I told him about the dust ship, the desert Grimm, the camp, the Atlesian Army marked AA launchers and finally the data stick. Once I had finished Simon looked a bit gobsmacked "Ty, I' am not going to touch the fact you're about 20 years too old to be doing bullshit heroics like that right now. But instead: Tell me of this data stick, what are you going to do with it? Reckon it will prove or disprove Atlesian Army involvement?" Came the inevitable question from the at times infuriatingly curious Simon. I thought about what I even intended on doing with the data stick.

"Well it is heavily encrypted and I can't trust anyone here to decode it without alerting the council, and I don't want them finding out anything that could begin a war... I'd probably be arrested as an enemy of the kingdom if Atlas and Vacuo went to war given my past as an Atlesian Army officer. I' am going to talk to Sanderson in Atlas, he said he has some friends who can hack any system of break any code who he has befriended at that fancy university he goes to." I replied, instantly regretting dragging Sanderson back into this life, he had broken out of the cycle of violence unlike any of the rest of us, but him and his friends were needed to help preserve the peace in Remnant from forces: White Fang or otherwise conspiring against the kingdoms. I could see Simon processing my course of action, but he was constantly rubbing his temples and bitching under his breath. _'Probably hung-over... Knowing Kale and Shauno they probably drank in celebration of their reunion.' _I thought mentally chuckling at my youngest trooper's misfortune.

"Well Ty, That seems an ok plan, except for whoever is responsible for this would be in Atlas, you'd have to be careful not to get found out, especially for Sanderson's sake. Also: Travel between kingdom's is all going to be quite difficult if someone's giving every anti-kingdom rabble advanced AA launchers. So don't go getting shot down while you're travelling there." Came Simon's reply. I smirked proudly: he had matured, become calmer and a lot sharper in the mind than the kid I'd first met who wanted nothing more than to kill and maim every Faunus he saw. I knew he still had distrust and dislike towards their kind, as most Black Fist soldiers did even after they deserted. The main reason people deserted is the line between killing White Fang and non-violent Faunus civilians was a line most didn't like crossing and left in disgust when they did. Even more had left when the Fist had also began targeting humans who were sympathetic to the Faunus. I shook my head "I won't be going to Atlas: if the wrong people see me and Sanderson together in Atlas, it will raise suspicions and place us both in danger. I' am sending a trusted officer with the data stick inside a diplomatic package, so no Atlesian authorities are allowed to search it. Besides, I'am needed in Vacuo." I replied, hoping I could trust Major Silver. Simon nodded in acknowledgement as he rubbed his temples once more.

"As great as it is to see you again Ty, I've gotta go... Kale and Shauno got me so drunk last night, I feel like I've just had the shit kicked out of me." The younger boy bitched. I just laughed and shook my head at Simon, "Well you did get the shit kicked out of you Simon. My advice is to get some coffee Simon: Coffee Cures All. Take care Simon and be vigilant for those Black Fist wannabes, they are dangerous if what you've told me about their leadership is true. Ty out." I replied and cut the transmission. Still smirking I made myself another scotch and went to sit by my pool, wondering just how big this was.

**Simon's PoV:**

As the transmission ended I decided to take Kruger's advice, even though I'd already decided upon such a course of action. So I geared up and armed up, reaffirming my decision to never be unarmed after last night's attempted murder by Levi. Walking out of the apartment, the summer sun blaring down on me caused my eyes great discomfort to the point I could barely see until I put my sunglasses on to block out the light. Walking down the street I withdrew my scroll to find a place with really good breakfasts: served in massive helpings. Eventually finding a place a few blocks away that I decided met my requirements. I sluggishly began making my way to the address stated on the cafe's webpage. As I walked I fell into a feeling of numbness I haven't felt for a long time, since before I had become Weiss' bodyguard. It was a familiar feeling of numbness I'd felt after I'd come to terms with the fact I'd killed someone, at the tender age of 12 I'd taken my first lives. For weeks I'd been hysterical and inconsolable as I constantly wept and sobbed, begging for forgiveness for what I'd done. Eventually my brain just shut off the emotion and I became numb. At that point in my life I could kill and fall asleep soundly while still covered in my victims blood. But after my injury I'd gone 18 months or more without having to take the life of another: I'd gone soft, the emotion had come back and I felt alive inside again. Like I could move past that part of my life and begin anew. But now the numbness had returned to shield me from the world that would despise a cold killer like me.

As I rounded a corner not where I was going and I walked straight into a great behemoth of a man. I just about bounced right off the man and ended up about a meter backwards, landing flat on my back. I was just about ready to start a fight, my hung over mind not in the mood for disrespect, my lust for violence died as soon as I saw who I'd run into. The man must have been 7ft tall, wore a green outfit with an armoured shoulder and a massive sword that was larger than me strapped to his back. I had seen this man at Beacon, it was Velvet's teammate: Yatsuhashi. Looking beside him I saw Velvet right beside him as well as the other two members of the team Coco and Fox. Yatsuhashi stepped forward and offered me a hand up which I begrudgingly accepted , he then bowed in apology after I'd managed to stand up.

"Don't apologise Yatsuhashi, he ran into you, this guy should have been watching where he'd been going!" I heard Coco say, berating me for not watching where I walked, which I wasn't in this instance but I'd never admit guilt for that or anything else at anytime. "Excuse me Coco, but how could I see around corners? You guys and I both rounded it at the exact same time. I replied, my voice more indignant and grumpy than I really would have wanted it to. Coco crossed her arms and looked at me over the rims of her sunglasses "Well someone's feisty, if it wasn't towards one of my teammates I might have admired you for standing up to someone who is so much larger and more skilled than you are freshie." Came the rebuke from the confident, but not arrogant (Well not very anyway) leader of Team CVFY. I scoffed at Coco, obviously this girl forgot that only 12 months ago she was a freshman. "Well Coco, I maybe a freshman at Beacon, but I can all but guarantee that I've got more actual combat experience than anyone at this school, 4th years included!" I shot back cockily. I knew I may not be the most skilful fighter, but I'd been around the block enough to be able to read my opponents, not to mention I'd learnt a whole heap of dirty tricks. Coco looked like someone had just destroyed her favourite clothing store. "Why you little!" Came her indignant cry as she stepped forward, her handbag being swung threateningly. I assumed a boxing stance, the edges of my gauntlets showing prominently on my arms without sleeves to cover them. I could see Yatsuhashi reaching slowly for his sword, hopefully as a peacekeeper rather than to help Coco should our egos clash violently.

Before this could escalate anymore, Velvet stepped between us facing Coco. "Coco! Leave Simon alone, he did nothing wrong, especially seeing as he came off 2nd best with Yatsuhashi." Velvet said defiantly, any hint of meekness instantly gone from her voice, even a bit of sarcasm with the last part. "And I' am sure he meant no offence with his remarks about his combat record, which if the rumours going around Beacon are to be believed is extensive." Velv continued. I felt quite surprised that Velvet was actually defending me, I mean yeah she and I were friends, but these were her teammates and most teams in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years I'd seen were closer than the closest family. Coco looked at me, her expression a cross between indignation and curiosity. "So this is the merc that you once knew Velv? He doesn't look like much, nothing more than a lucky novice." Came the snarky and completely bullshit assessment of my capabilities. I stepped forward and pushing past Velvet got right up in Coco's face, staring each other down through tinted lenses. "Care to say that again aye? You seem to look like you out more time into fashion than you ever do your combat training, such vanity." I scoffed back, deciding I really did not like this woman. As Coco was about to strike out, she was dragged away by Yatsuhashi and I was similarly dragged back by Velvet, all while this was happening the 4th member of Team CFVY was standing back, laughing at this entire display and the fact that someone had the balls to smack talk Coco.

I didn't struggle against Velvet, I let myself be dragged away from the potential fight, noting how firm yet at the same time delicate her touch was against my arm. "What's gotten into you today Simon! This is not at all like you!" she whispered, worriedly. _'It isn't like the me you remember me as.. the me you want me to be. But I really am a very thoughtlessly and needlessly violent person.' _I thought bitterly and sadly. Coco however was slightly less happy not to have the opportunity to smack me one for smack talking. "Let me go Yatsuhashi! he has it coming to him." she said slightly angrily, but yet dangerously calm. Deciding I'd had enough of this situation I turned to Velvet and gently removed her arms from me "I' am sorry Velvet for disturbing your well deserved weekend, I really must be going... I'll see you another time." I said hurriedly and emotionlessly before shoving past Coco and on towards the cafe at the end of the block, not bothering to look back.

I reached the cafe quickly and took a seat in the corner so no one could approach me without me seeing them, I was still very rattled after last night and the hangover did nothing to help my frayed nerves. As much as I didn't really like Coco, I did feel bad for going off like I did in front of Velvet. A waitress came over and took my order: Coffee and the biggest serving of Bacon, eggs and hash browns they had. As I sat I scrolled through the news, still seeing the odd story concerning me and my time at Beacon... luckily they still hadn't released a photo of my current face, I' am sure I had Ozpin to thank for that. I almost found it funny that people were so enthralled with the shadowy enigma that I had become to some people, if it wasn't for the fact I under no circumstances wanted this fascination with me to exist. As I waited for my meal and lamented just how damned complicated my life was quickly becoming I saw the cafe's door open and in walked in Velvet, but this time without the rest of her team, seeing me she made her way over to me stopping just short of my table. "Mind if I join you?" she asked nervously, the meekness that was missing when I'd seen her out in the street returning in force. I sighed, I really didn't want company today. But I also cherished any time I got to spend with Velvet, having her around just seemed to calm me and allow the anger and all my troubles to wash away with her presence. "Sure, feel free to sit Velvet." I answered calmly, a slight look of happiness creeping across my face.

Velvet sat and studied my face, made hard by the fact I was still wearing my sunglasses. Velvet frowned at me "You know it is very impolite to wear sunglasses inside, not even Coco does that!" She said firmly, being comfortable enough around me for the meekness and shyness to not show very much. I chuckled weakly and hung my head down, I didn't want to take the sunnies off as I knew seeing the bruises and black eyes would worry my friend and I didn't like making people worry about me especially my friends. "I'd prefer not to Velvet, big night last night and I' am certainly feeling it today." I replied, hoping Velv would just let the subject slide. Velvet thought for a moment and then shook her head disapprovingly "You really shouldn't be drinking... you aren't even the legal age for alcohol, regardless of what you did with those _Mercs_." Velvet rebuked. I noted the odd tone in which she said mentioned my mercenary cover, I seriously began to wonder just how many people if any believed my lies, but I decided not to bring it up, lest the truth comes out.

My meal arrived and I got a refill on my coffee, loving the thick black lava that they served which only fuelled my addiction to it. I chuckled slightly as it took a sip of it "Ahh so nice: Coffee with Team CFVY, What a puntacular morning." I said smirking. Velvet groaned and covered her cute bunny ears "You're spending too much time with Yang!" she replied referring to Beacon's self proclaimed _Queen of Antics and Puns_. I just laughed and took a sip of coffee and became lost in my head studying the Faunus girl before me: While being one of the more modest girls in Beacon, I thought that only served to enhance her beauty, not diminish it whatsoever. The long wavy brown hair and those mesmerizing eyes, Yes she was very Beautiful, matching or even surpassing Weiss in terms of beauty in my opinion. A small smile appeared across my face as I thought about my friend. But as quickly as that smile appeared, it disappeared as I realised that if Velvet ever found out what I really was: A cold, heartless killer and subjugator of Faunus, she would hate me... just as I'd come to hate myself.

I sighed sadly and began to eat my food, biting back tears as I did hoping Velvet didn't notice.

**Velvet Scarlatina's PoV:**

As I sat I studied my old friend across the table: He was hiding something, something that was tearing himself up inside with guilt, I may not be able to see those infinitely deep Blue-Gray eyes right now through the sunglasses but the other times I'd seen him, he looked sad and guilty. Of what? I didn't want to hazard a guess, I trusted Simon to come clean eventually. No matter what he'd done up in Atlas, I'd forgive him and help him piece himself back together, I would never hate him or turn my back on him or anyone who shows remorse and needs help, because doing that is what breeds hate in this world. I saw a small smile creep across Simon's face, I always loved Simon's smile, even as a child. But now I cherished them whenever they crept across his face as he rarely smiled at Beacon, instead Simon almost permanently wore a look of indifference or a scowl. "Did you want some Coffee or something else to drink or eat? Order what you like, I'll pay Velv." I heard Simon suddenly speak up trying to break the tension, obviously the silence wasn't very comfortable to him, I had to agree with him. "Umm no, I'll be fine, maybe just a juice?" I replied, having already eaten with my team but not wanting to reject his hospitality and friendly offer. Simon nodded and called to the waitress who took the new order. Once the Waitress had left Simon turned to look at me through his still sunglass covered eyes, which kind of irked me, but I let it slide seeing as he was hung-over. "Thank-you for sticking up for me back there with Coco, It's good to see you do have a feisty side." Simon said, chuckling lightly.

I smiled at the comment "Well someone had to stop Coco from sending her handbag up into your groin, trust me: you don't want that to happen." I replied, having seen Coco in action, I didn't want Simon being her next victim. Simon grimaced visibly at that thought and I let out a small laugh. "Well double Thanks, I'd prefer NOT to cop a nut shot. What were you guys up to today? I hope I' am not dragging you away from quality time with your team." Simon inquired, a guilty look upon his face. I waved him off "No, Coco was about to drag Fox and I shopping and Yatsuhashi was going to go visit his family. So you kind of did me a favour, Coco's ideas of fashion don't really coincide with mine." I replied smiling to my friend. Simon nodded and went back to his meal and coffee as my juice arrived. We sat in a now comfortable silence. I had so many questions for Simon, but I didn't want to push them onto him, lest it scare him off. So instead I just enjoyed this quality time with him.

Eventually Simon finished his meal and coffee and stood to leave, leaving a decent tip for the waitress as he stood. "So where to now?" Simon asked as we exited the cafe. I thought for a moment before smiling and turning to my friend "I know a small park with a lake that isn't too far from here that I enjoy going to when I want to relax." I replied and led off, Simon following beside me. "Hey Simon, my parents send their regards and well wishes to you. The entire town was so relieved to hear about you turning up after most people had given up hope of you ever being found." I said, starting to get annoyed at the silence that filled our time together. Simon sent me a sideways glance and smiled weakly "I guessed my return would be big news back there, and before you ask: I haven't decided if I'll go back anytime soon, I don't know if I' am ready to confront where it all began." Simon replied quickly, knowing exactly what I was going to ask next.

Eventually we arrived at the park, it was peaceful and very few people here at the moment. We just walked, admiring the flowers in silence, taking comfort just from the other's presence. I' am not sure at what point it had happened or who had instigated but looking down I saw my hand clasped in Simon's, this brought a deep blush to my face. Not that I really minded the contact, it was strangely comforting and protective. Looking to Simon's face I could see it had relaxed considerably and the worry and guilt was no longer permeating his aura. Though I was now worried, I could see from this angle under the sunglasses and I saw bruising, obviously Simon wasn't being entirely honest about what he had been up to last night.

Resolving to get to the bottom of this I led Simon to a small bench by the lake, as we sat down I quickly, before Simon could react yanked the sunglasses off his face to reveal the bruising and the double scars over his right eye. I flinched at just how beaten up Simon looked, obviously something had gone really wrong for him and I wasn't going to let him hide it. "Simon, now what _ACTUALLY _happened last night?" I asked firmly, a commanding look in my eye. Simon looked at me both surprised and a bit angry, he looked at me sternly, taking his glasses back and placing them back on. "I ran into someone I'd prefer not to have last night, someone from my time in Atlas. A Member of the Mercs I'd worked with. I hadn't left them on the best of terms, our outfit broke up due to infighting, backstabbing and eventually killings. When my name and the fact I was at Beacon was published in several papers, this particular former comrade: Levi, followed me down here and is now hunting me, trying to kill me." Simon replied, distress evident in his voice. I nodded in understanding, feeling quite sorry for Simon. "He found out I was here I guess because the news outlets reported that I'd resurfaced and was at Beacon, he got together five thugs and ambushed me in an alley last night." Simon finished off his story, him looking having taken off the sunglasses to look me in the eyes. "Have you told your team or Ozpin about this? what about the police?" I asked, trying to help Simon fix this potentially fatal problem.

"Velvet, Levi is like me trained like a hunter. The police couldn't do a thing about him. I'll be talking to Ozpin on Monday about this, but please keep this to yourself, I don't need my team or you worrying. I'll be fine... I' am a stubborn, unkillable bastard." Simon said trying to placate my fear and worry. I shook my head and drew Simon into a quick hug. "Ok, but you take care of yourself... no getting killed! Also you aren't a bastard so don't denigrate yourself like that." I said keeping my voice even, trying to not dwell on the fact someone's trying to kill my friend. Simon nodded, his expression blank. I knew he was still hiding quite a lot, but I think the fact he'd opened up about this very significant issue was great progress in breaking down the walls of secrecy he hid himself behind. After that we sat in relative silence for a while, me occasionally telling where all our childhood friends had ended up: Thankfully none of them were in the _White Fang_. Simon listened and asked occasional question which I was all too happy to answer. I described to him the weapon I used at Beacon that I'd made at Signal, just like I'd described it to his headstone back in Exton, It was nostalgic and a happy conversation. I again noticed my hand ended up clasped in his, but I never complained.

After having sat there for about 2 hours my scroll buzzed and I looked at it, it was from Coco: _Meet at Yatsuhashi place for lunch. c u soon._ I sighed, it wasn't a suggestion but an order from my Team leader. I turned back to Simon sadly "Sorry but I got to go, Lunch with the team and Yatsuhashi's family. It was good seeing you again." I said happily as I stood. Simon stood with me and smirked, trying to hide the disappointment at having to part ways. "I'll send you a text later Simon, take care." I said as I turned away and walked off. My mind swimming with thoughts and emotions I couldn't make sense of, all to do with Simon and how if at all he felt about me and how I felt back.

**Simon's PoV:**

As I watched Velvet walk away I felt the numbness and the emptiness I'd felt earlier return and leave a numb ache in my heart. Sighing I turned in the opposite direction and began walking, my mind swirling with emotions and questions: mostly related to why Velvet kept clasping my hand, even if she didn't realise it. _'Is there a possibility that she could like me? Do I like her back? Don't be stupid, of course I do!' _I mentally asked and answered my own question, Well the 2nd question anyway. The first one had me stumped, but regardless of the answer I knew as soon as the truth of my past came out... and come out it would, she'd never want anything to do with me at all. _'Don't get your hopes up Simon, don't get attached to ideas that can never be!' _I admonished myself as I walked through Vale for several hours aimlessly, just observing people going about their lives.

Eventually my scroll buzzed ripping me from my deep thinking. It was a call from an unknown number raising an eyebrow I answered the call "Simon speaking." I answered.  
"Simon, it is Gregory... if you need a place to stay tonight or anytime you're in Vale, that safe house is available for your use, just let me know before you arrive. I' am still finalising my plans for going after Levi, but you'll be the first I let know. I've got things to do tonight, but feel free to head to the club and hang out with Kale and Shauno if you don't head back to Beacon." Gregory said hurriedly, obviously in a hurry to be somewhere. I rolled my eyes "I'll see Gregory, you let me know what's going to happen with Levi, Whatever it is: I' am in if it helps our friend, we owe him that much for following us to hell and back." I replied, just wondering what exactly Gregory was planning for this.  
"Ok Simon, I'll let you know what's happening... I'll see you when I see you." Gregory said and then clicked off. I shook my head and walked on, returning to my deep thoughts which had now turned to Levi and where he was and what he was doing, I just sighed as I continued walking _'My life has just become a whole new level of complicated with Gregory coming in like a wrecking ball.' _I thought as I realised things were going to get worse before they got better.

**A/N: **I hope you all enjoyed that, especially the first appearance of Team CFVY. I know Coco seemed a bit bitchy, but I see her as someone who doesn't take shit from anyone, especially freshmen like Simon, who was quite combative to her. Coco is a badass character, so of course she aint going to put up with Simon being a bit of a dick.

After this chapter I'll be beginning the rewrites of earlier chapters: Mainly just cleaning up mistakes, grammar, clearing up a few things such as Author's Notes. Nothing that has great bearing on the story. But I'll also be writing new chapters and posting them whenever I get the chance.

Remember to please Follow and Favourite if you like the story and to leave your comments if you have any in a Review, I always reply to my reviews. -CC Signing off.


	29. Sienna's Secrets

**A/N:** CC here with Chapter 29 of _From Hunted to Hunter_. I got two really great (for different reasons) reviews since my last update:

First one was from **Shinigami2509 **who gave great advice for rewriting my early chapters (which is in-progress right now), as well as how to continue to improve future chapters. So I thank them for the advice, it has really helped a lot.

The 2nd was from **Tommy2486 **Whose review just made a really crappy day into an extremely epic one and has spawned an idea that I'll elaborate on at a later date.

I know I say this a lot but as an amateur writer I can't thank all those who have read my stories and especially those who leave feedback enough... it really does motivate me to hear what you guys think of my stories, whether it be praise, smartass comments about events or characters in the story or constructive criticism and advice. You're all awesome! -CC Signing on.

**DISCLAIMER: RWBY is the intellectual Property of Monty and the RT crew. And all other media referenced here is the property of their respective creators. **

**Chapter 29:Sienna's Secrets, Thursday Week 5. Simon's PoV: **

The weekend had been pretty great, Saturday had been spent shotting tequila with the marksmen and the patron's of Junior's club drinking away the numbness I'd felt at once again taking life. Sunday was spent severely hung-over and playing the Xbox with Kale and Shauno in their apartment. Gregory hadn't contacted me at all that day or anytime since then, probably had more important spook stuff to take care of.

The school week so far had been slow: I hadn't talked to Ozpin like I'd promised Velvet, no need to get people involved that may try to hurt Levi rather than help him. I was confident that Gregory and I could deal with this.

Nyanza had been spending more and more time with his friends from Signal (Yang included). Teal and Sienna had spent a lot of time together and were forming a close friendship, which I fully intended to exploit in order to glean information about Sienna's past so I could work out how to help her deal with whatever she was repressing. Good news had also come my way as the newspapers seemed to have decided to leave me alone and cease publishing so much misinforming BS about me and speculations on my past as well as that, my aura had healed my wounds by the time I'd gotten back to Beacon so no one had the slightest clue about the events of Friday night except for Velvet.

The bad news is that I hadn't been in a match at all since the incident with Blake, I think Goodwitch was deliberately rigging the draw to keep me out of action after I'd landed the Faunus in hospital. So here I sat in Ozpin's office, an impassive as ever Ozpin behind his desk and an irate Glynda to his right. "So Mr Alexander, you hospitalised one of my students last week? You seem to have a pattern of overly violent conduct: beating down your teammate Nyanza _after _I'd specifically told you not to, carrying weapons into classes when school policy specifically prohibits them unless instructed to by member of staff. And Now this. Do you have any explanation for your actions?" Ozpin asked calmly, his facial expression not changing, which put me very much on edge being not able to read his face.

"Well sir, what happened with Nyanza was a training session that got out of hand. As for my going everywhere armed, well I've managed to piss a lot of people off... it only makes sense that if I' am in danger I be allowed to carry defensive measures. On the last count... I've got no explanation for my conduct, I've apologised and shown remorse to Blake for putting her in hospital. I had not realised how much damage I had caused to her and I'll accept any punishment you hand down sir." I replied with my best poker face and emotionless voice, hoping to keep my real reason for the incident last Friday to myself.

Ozpin looked at me curiously as he sipped on some coffee.

Glynda however decided to pounce on what to her amounted to an admission of guilt. "Well young man... I'll certainly have a punishment for you. I'll ensure that you go everywhere unarmed unless your weapons are expressly needed for the purpose, this includes going into Vale unarmed until you can be shown to be trusted with your weapons and control your violent tendencies." Came the barbed tongue of the deputy headmistress.

I was livid "What? take away my shadows... you CAN'T do that!" I growled angrily, now on my feet.

"Sit down Mr Alexander." Ozpin ordered firmly yet still calmly and impassively. "She can and she will be confiscating all your armaments, you however will be allowed to retain possession of your body armour to protect yourself from any who mean you harm. This should also teach you to trust and rely on your teammates much more." Ozpin continued, giving his rationale for my punishment a small smile upon his face.

I snarled aggressively as I took my staff off my back and removed my gauntlets to place them on Ozpin's desk "Fine, I don't need these anyway... my body itself is a lethal enough weapon." I shot back in a barbed tone as I stood and stormed out, my steel capped combat boots thudding heavily as I walked into the elevator.

**Ozpin's PoV:**

"Why do you even allow him to stay here Ozpin? he is a danger to not only himself but also other students and the population of Vale as a whole." Glynda asked me after Simon had left, frustrated at having to keep tabs on the young former insurgent.

"Because Glynda, people can change and people can become better if given the chance and proper guidance. Simon is one such person who has improved in leaps and bounds but still has ways to go. I have always prided myself at accepting people from every walk of life and to guide every one of my students through this: the most important stage of their lives to ensure they become not only the best hunters they can be but also the best people as well, for what are we without our humanity?" I replied, giving at least a hint as to why I invited Simon to Beacon and then have kept him enrolled even after several outbursts of violence.

Glynda merely rolled her eyes at me as she collected Simon's weapons and began to make her way out of my office. Once she was out of sight I let my facade of impassiveness wash away and I sighed sadly and pulled up one of several disturbing reports that I had come across this morning "I' am sorry Simon, but ensuring you are disarmed is the only way to keep you out of this, Dust knows you don't need to be dragged back into that life." I said sadly as I leaned back, wondering if all the different things happening around Vale were interconnected, and if so... how?

**Simon's PoV:**

_'How could they do this to me! A Huntsman's weapons are an extension of themselves... I-I feel totally exposed right now, I can do nearly nothing but run from an enemy.' _I fumed mentally as I walked the halls back to SNST's dorm, ignoring the looks I got from various students who were curious to see me unarmed, after having gained a reputation of being constantly armed and lethal.

As I walked into the dorm I saw Teal and Sienna sitting at their desk working on an assignment by the looks of it. I walked over and flopped down on my bed, not even bothering to take of my boots. "Hey Simon, how did your meeting with Ozpin go?" I heard Sienna ask, concern evident in her voice.

"I haven't been expelled, but I've had my weapons confiscated by Goodwitch indefinitely until I can control my anger. Seems putting students in hospital is taken very seriously here." I said, my voice dripping with contempt.

By this time Teal had taken a break from her assignment work to join in on this conversation. "Well how could you expect them not to? You not only hospitalised Blake, you were a second away from killing her! Goodwitch was right to punish you so severely... your answer to every problem is to hit something! You need to find a better way of dealing with your problems and emotions." Teal admonished.

I glared at my teammate angrily for a moment before my anger subsided and I leaned back into my pillow "Teal, for so long... Anger is all I had to keep me going, it is ingrained into me, it has moulded me. I'll never be able to fully let go of it, just as you'll never be able to overcome your deep rooted need for your families approval. It has been something we've clung onto for way too long." I replied, entirely without malice, in fact quite the opposite: I was sympathetic to Teal, even if I didn't really show it. She reminded me of Weiss in regards to constantly seeking approval from family, only for it to never be given.

Teal physically flinched at my mentioning her personal issues, but she didn't become angry with me... she had left the door open to it when she admonished me. She looked down and fiddled her fingers. "I guess you're right, but even if you can't let it go... you need to deal with it in a more constructive way than violence." Came the completely correct retort from Teal, who wasn't letting my comment about her family shut her down like it did when Nyanza went completely overboard during their match.

By this time I had sat back up and walked to the desk to speak the girls, both of which looked very determined to help me get my shit together, even if only for the team's sake. "Simon we're a team, and we want this team to be able to flourish over the next four years... but we can't if our captain is a reclusive wreck full of anger and secrets." Sienna said caringly, trying to encourage me to break down the mental walls around myself.

This however backfired badly for Sienna. I raised a bemused eyebrow. "Oh that's rich coming from the one person on this team I know nothing about." I rebutted, a fierce glare in my eyes.

Sienna looked very saddened and defensive once I made that comment, not that I cared... If Sienna wanted to pry into my life, I'll retaliate. "Don't try to make this about me Simon! I' am not the one who put another student in hospital. We just want to help you, to try and keep the progress we made as a team in Vale together." Sienna replied without anger, but still obviously hiding something.

I stared the two girls down emotionlessly, seizing the moment to turn the argument on its head "Oh this is about you as well Sienna. you keep talking about trust among the team and trying to help each other... but that only seems to be your position when it is my past and my secrets that are being pried into. But the moment that anything about you is put in the spotlight... you become much more defensive and secretive than I have ever been Sienna, so practice what you preach and bloody well tell us about your _Oh so secret _past." I snapped at my teammate in a venomous snarl smashing my fist into the desk beside where I stood

Both Teal and Sienna were taken aback by my sudden outbreak of the same violent savagery that had been my behaviour pattern in my first few weeks here and the girls obviously thought I'd gotten over my violence if not my anger.

"Simon! Apologise to Sienna right now!" Teal demanded, only for her to shrink back into her shell as I stared her down intimidatingly.

"No Team, Sienna expects me to hold no secrets... she should lead by example." I replied, now trying to control my anger and be able to fully analyse whatever story Sienna was going to tell.

Sienna looked down meekly at the ground. "Ok if you REALLY need to know my story: I grew up in a family dedicated to violently overthrowing the kingdoms in favour of a Faunus dominant society. They weren't members of the _White Fang_ as that organisation was still a peaceful, diplomatic group at the time. I never once agreed with their beliefs or ideology. When I was 10, I and my younger sister were left alone at an orphanage so that my family could run off and begin raiding dust trains near the Vale/Vacuo border or go fight in Atlas or something I never really cared. We stayed in that hellhole for nearly 3 years in wretched conditions. Eventually we were adopted by a family of human farmers just after the White Fang rebellion had been crushed in the months following _Ruben Field_ and the Vale Council was giving financial aid to anyone who adopted Faunus Orphans to help the next generation be better integrated into society, or at least that was the aim." Sienna spoke passively, trying not to let emotion overcome her.

"But what followed was not the loving family my sister and I craved: instead we got 4 years of hell: slavery, being starved and beaten, sleeping in animal filth in a barn as the family believed us no better than animals. They only took us for the thousands of Lien the government paid them to raise us. One night my sister was being severely beaten and I just had to do something to protect her... that's when my Aura and semblance became unlocked. I jumped in and huddled into my sister, projecting a large aura shield around us, stopping our _guardians _from reaching us. After that I trained everyday getting stronger in order to defend my sister and anyone else who can't protect themselves from the violent forces of this world. I unlike Teal and Nyanza but like you never went to a combat school. My parents are the reason I despise not only the _Black Fist _but also the _White Fang _and anyone else who uses violence to attempt to overthrow the peace of the kingdoms. Are you happy now... everything is out in the open for me now." Sienna finished.

I was shocked, but not overly surprised that Sienna had led such a life. I also was genuinely surprised just how in control Sienna seemed at this particular moment. If it was me in her situation: this place would look like a warzone right now... which is probably why I had my weapons taken away from me. "Sienna... I' am sorry for what you went through, and I know it's deeply personal which is why you kept it a secret. Why I' am so angry, so unstable right now is also a deeply personal secret... and I don't even have the words to describe it to anyone... but give me time and give me space and eventually once I've been able to fully deal with everything and I've learnt to be more trusting of others again... I promise I'll come clean with you all." I replied as I made my way to the door to go for a walk to try and just calm down and regain control of my almost rampant anger and frustration at everything: Blake, Velvet, Gregory, Levi... it all added up and I couldn't take it anymore. "I'll see you guys in class ok?" I said as I exited, not giving the girls a chance to get a word in.

**That Night. Dorm roof, Simon's PoV:**

It had been a long day, agonising day. I can't remember the last time I had felt so helpless and vulnerable to attack. It had led to me being very jumpy and fidgety and above all quick to lash out: I'd nearly punched Weiss when she had tapped me on the shoulder to ask me if I was ok. I had felt so guilty to nearly strike the one person in this world I'd ever protected other than myself. I looked out at the stars, contemplating running away from this place... All that had happened in such a short period of time was becoming overwhelming: Blake, Velvet, SNST and the burden or responsibility. No, I needed to get away. _'I could stay with Gregory... I' am sure he could help me get a place in Vale Intelligence.' _I thought as I stared out over the courtyard as I usually did of an evening feeling that numbness and emptiness engulfing me.

As I began planning my escape, I heard footsteps behind me which I instantly recognised as the petite, light steps of Weiss. The guilt from what had happened today still strong in me. _Ozpin and Glynda are right... I need to get my anger in check.' _I thought sadly. Turning I saw Weiss keeping her distance from me and she looked very nervous. I almost wanted to cry: The sacred trust between us damaged, I just hope it wasn't beyond repair. "Hey Weiss." I said weakly, not meeting her piercing gaze.

I heard Weiss huff, trying to find the right words. "Simon, what's wrong? What's caused you to suddenly become so unstable that they had to take away your weapons? And don't even think about hiding it from me! I know the truth about you." Weiss shot at me coldly. I tried not to flinch at these words but they were said so coldly, so harshly that I couldn't help but buckle under her cold gaze: I could never really refuse Weiss' help as I did Sienna's and Teal's, I trusted Weiss enough and she also knew almost everything about my time in the _Fist._

"I ran into several people I'd served with in Atlas, before I'd become your body guard... One of them tried to kill me with a bunch of hired guns." I replied, telling what mostly amounted to the truth. I turned to face back out into the distance. I heard Weiss take a few steps forward and came to stand beside me, still a noticeably larger gap between us than usual.

"Well that explains why you're so edgy this week, I guess I can't exactly stay too mad at you for reacting the way you did when I scared you. But what about what happened with Blake? Which happened BEFORE you went to Vale last Friday." Weiss replied, not being fooled by me. Which I should have expected... Weiss was no fool.

I sighed and hung my head. "I can't say Weiss: that is one burdening secret that I can't share, not even with you... This one would destroy you to keep." I replied, hoping Weiss would understand not knowing that I'd orphaned the girl she shares a dorm with.

I could feel Weiss' eyes studying me, obviously weighing up pushing her quest to find out about the one thing I'd never share with her: The duel between myself and Schwarzer Belladonna. One of the few things I' am actually proud of from my time in the _Black Fist_, even if it did have the regrettable consequence of orphaning Blake.

"Simon, why can't you share this burden? You've come so far from who you once were through sharing your burdens and secrets, let me keep helping you as you helped me so much." Weiss replied, edging closer to me, her guard coming down and her breathing becoming more relaxed.

"Because Weiss, this one I really can't share, not until I' am able to share it with those who have a genuine right to know." I replied, still being as elusive and vague as I could while still giving an answer. _'Damn how does Ozpin do this so easily!' _I thought as I realised just how hard it was to be cryptic like Beacon's headmaster.

I could tell that Weiss was none too impressed with me still keeping secrets from her, when I on the other hand had such intimate knowledge of everything about the Heiress. "Ok, I guess you've made your decision on that regard, but if you do ch-" Weiss' predictable comment about her being here for me was halted as I raised a open hand, wordlessly asking her to stop.

"I know Weiss, and you've been there for me plenty times in the time I've known you... number one being you saving my life on that train and ensuring I got the best medical care available. But just trust me on this... all will become crystal clear in time. Now enough of me, how have you been? Apart from me trying to skull bash you." I said hastily, trying to deflect the conversation away from my personal issues.

Weiss frowned slightly, not liking my opportunistic attempt at a subject change. But nonetheless she decided to finally drop her inquiry. "It was good to finally be able to leave Beacon and go into Vale, Ruby was pleasant enough company... when she wasn't getting distracted by every shiny thing or weapon related magazine she saw." Weiss answered, an almost unnoticeable smirk upon her face.

However I did notice it and I pounced on the opportunity for a bit of humour to cut the tension that permeated the atmosphere right now and hopefully stave off the emptiness. "Oh so you went out with Ruby? Is there going to be a follow-up date?" I asked, a devilish smile slowly spreading across my face, enjoying this opportunity to temporarily forget all my troubles.

Weiss blushed for a nanosecond before her face assumed a look of mock indignation. "No Simon, It was not a date. I just kept her company seeing as Yang disappeared all weekend to only dust knows where, I wasn't about to let my partner run rampant around Vale alone, the whole city would be devoid of cookies if that happened. But I shall admit that it was nice to be around someone who didn't hold me on a pedestal or dote upon me just because of my last name." Weiss said, a tone of contentment and softness in her voice.

It made my mood improve a bit knowing Weiss was finally beginning to open up to others and at least attempt to form meaningful friendships. And judging by the blush I caught maybe even emotional attachments with people other than those her father tried to push her into, mostly sons of rich businessmen (that I may or may not have took an active role in discouraging) I was tempted to make a wisecrack about Weiss dating Jaune instead of Ruby, but seeing Weiss in such a happy, content mood was a rare sight so I wasn't going to spoil it.

"So you and Velvet huh?" I heard Weiss ask with a small laugh. I was caught off guard by what I interpreted as more a statement of fact than a question. I blushed heavily and averted my eyes from my friend.

"Oh so there is something, I knew it, ever since Ruby and I saw you two in that park, hands clasped on the Weekend." The Heiress pushed the question, obviously enjoying the shoe being on the other foot, as it is usually me doing the teasing.

I couldn't do anything but smile like an idiot and blush for a moment as I remembered that soft, warm, and need I say it: Velvety feeling of the Faunus' hand in mine. I heard Weiss giggle lightly "Aww someone's got their first crush" I heard Weiss coo in a smartass tone, taking full advantage of this for her own amusement, I'd be annoyed if it weren't for the fact I knew I'd just been doing the exact same thing with her and Ruby.

"Well Weiss, that would make two of us with our first crushes. Also if you keep my secret... I promise not to tell Yang that you're in love with her sister." I shot straight back, allowing myself to just run with this as it was helping fight off the soul crushing emptiness I'd been fighting all week.

Weiss raised an eyebrow, an ever so slight blush upon her face. However before she could make a retort back at me, her scroll buzzed. Opening it up Weiss' face fell. "As much as I was enjoying this, I got to go, it seems Ruby got a hold of one of Yang's energy drinks and it is now all hands on deck to get her back under control." Weiss said, sounding suddenly annoyed.

"Ok, I understand. I hope someone gets a video of you guys trying to chase down that hyperactive girl, just be thankful it isn't Nora who got one of them." I replied, chucking at the untold destruction that would ensue there.

A look of horror overtook Weiss' face at that thought. "Never EVER mention that horrible possibility ever again, for all our sakes. Goodnight Simon." Weiss said worriedly as she turned to walk down off the roof. leaving me alone up there.

I stood up there for a few minutes more in silence, as I was about to make my way back down to SNST's dorm and face the potential shit storm I caused this morning my scroll buzzed. Looking at it I recognised Gregory's frequency. "Simon here." I answered.

"Simon, glad I've caught you. Listen I need you to swing by the safe house tomorrow once you are in Vale. It is very important that you be there." Gregory said calmly, yet with a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Hold up mate, what do you mean? Is it Levi?" I asked, running possible reasons for this meeting and not liking anything I came up with.

"I can't say over the phone, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow, I'll talk to you then." Gregory replied before cutting the line. I stared at my scroll, wondering exactly what had Gregory so spooked. I pondered this as I made my way off the roof.

**Friday, Week 5. Combat Class, Simon's PoV:**

It was finally time for combat class, it meant I was finally going to be allowed to take possession of my weapons: even if only for the duration of the class. I was at the sparring room early and Goodwitch was there waiting, a small table beside her which contained my gun staff and gauntlets. I was instantly happy, the shakes and jitters and edginess I'd been suffering since I had them taken away from me.

"I hope you've been behaving yourself Mr Alexander. You'll get your weapons back at the end of next week if you aren't involved in any more violent incidents." Goodwitch said impassively as I affixed my gauntlets to my forearms and grabbed up _Umbra Vigilans_: Twirling it in my hands, getting used to the familiar feel of the weight and grip. I was whole again.

Walking up into the bleachers to await my match with my team, a massive grin across my face. Teal and Sienna merely shook their heads at my sudden happiness just because I had a lethal weapon in my hands. Nyanza was next to me as I sat down and ran my hands over my weapon, checking to ensure the staff hadn't mistreated my weapons.

"Dude you're rubbing that weapon a little too intimately aren't you?" Nyanza taunted, ever the smartass.

I looked to my teammate and raised an eyebrow. "Coming from the man whose an expert at intimately rubbing... himself." I shot back not missing a beat.

A series of raucous laughter rippled through the teams around us at just how badly I burnt Nyanza. The sandy haired boy bit his lip and hung his head in shame. "Well I walked straight into that one. GG man GG." Came his humbled reply.

I smirked happily to myself as I drew a blade sharpener and ran my gauntlets and gun staff's blades through it, to ensure maximum lethality. I then began polishing the blades, giving them a nice metallic shine. My combat outfit may have seen better days but I always kept my weapons looking immaculate. And so began the waiting game for my match up.

It was getting closer to the end of the lesson when Pyrrha had just finished slowly dismantling Nyanza. it had been a good match, but Nyanza barely scratched Pyrrha.

Goodwitch came up to the centre of the ring. "Our next match shall be Yang Xiao Long vs. Simon Alexander. Combatants please make your way down." She said commandingly.

I gulped, I knew that Yang was close with her partner and would be out for my blood in this match. I could hear a lot of hushed conversation as I nervously made my way into the ring, not feeling overly confident about this fight given that Yang was currently undefeated in combat class and I had 1 loss to my record. Yang stomped out into the ring, her lilac eyes now red as she cracked her knuckles.

_'Oh fuck fuck fuck.' _I thought as I could feel the heat and anger coming from the brawler. _'Ok got to keep distance in this, use your gun and 'nades Simon.' _I thought, trying to figure out how to counteract the brawler. I took my starting position, _Umbra Vigilans _in its gun mode. A bead of sweat made its way down my face as I waited for Goodwitch to begin the match.

Yang did a bit of shadow boxing "I' am going to enjoy taking you apart: piece by piece just like you did to Blake." She whispered angrily.

"Begin!" Came Goodwitch's voice.

I immediately let fly at Yang with a long burst of flechettes, several of which scored direct hits as Yang charged in, returning fire with slug rounds from her gauntlets. As Yang got in close I pulled the pin on a grenade and dropped it at my feet, then back flipping away from it. Yang however was caught right in the explosion, being flung back the way she came. I smirked _'This is going better than I expected it to.'_ I thought as I let fly with another burst of flechettes, emptying my current magazine. I tossed a grenade at Yang to keep her busy while I reloaded my weapon's magazine. _'Need to get her aura down quickly... longer this match goes for, the more advantage she has over me.' _ I thought as I frantically reloaded and rammed the bolt home and brought my weapon to bare once more on the blonde, who was still reeling from the two grenades and the magazine of lethal ballistic darts I'd peppered her with.

I could see Yang's aura gauge getting low and I smirked, a few more well placed shots and this match would be mine without Yang even getting a punch in. But it was then that I saw Yang's hair begin to burn and I realised my mistake. Yang stood up and faced me, cocking the action on her gauntlets before charging in at me too quick for me to respond.

I felt the full force of Yang's punch right in the breadbasket, augmented by the shotgun blast of her right gauntlet catapulted me through the air and right into the wall of the arena. I was battered but I jumped straight back up and rolled to my left out of the path of destruction that lay where ever Yang faced. I fired off another volley of flechettes at the blonde who turned and tackled me to the ground, she pinned me to the ground and began pummelling my ribs with her gauntlets. "You hurt Blake... I Hurt you!" she growled venomously as she landed hit after hit after hit into my ribcage until my aura hit the red and Goodwitch ended the match just as Yang was about to send a power punch right through my skull. Yang still went to land the punch anyway however she was immobilised and moved off me by a whish of Goodwitch's wand.

"That is another win to miss Xiao Long, she remains undefeated while Simon knocks up his 2nd loss from 12 matches." Goodwitch announced as I tried to get up only to have Yang kick me back into the ground, snarling angrily.

I didn't blame Yang for this, I knew she was an emotional woman and she cared deeply for her partner despite only knowing her for a month, so it was entirely understandable that she'd be protective and angry when her partner ends up in hospital because of me. Blake had come into the arena to escort Yang back to the stands to ensure I wasn't beaten anymore.

I dragged myself up, my ribs and head feeling very worse for wear. No one, not even Sienna came to my aid to help me up and get me off the arena before the next match. I leant on _Umbra Vigilans _for support as I made my way off the arena, a lot of people looked stunned at how quickly the match had turned around and how quickly I'd gone from not a scratch to losing the match and nearly getting my skull bashed in. I sat up with my team, my head spinning and my ribs feeling very swollen to the point I could barely breathe, but if anyone had asked if I was ok: The answer would be _Fine_.

I watched the rest of the matches, not really paying attention to them, just trying to let my aura go to work about healing my injuries as well as replenishing. As the class finished I tried to slunk out the door with possession of my weapons only to be stopped by Goodwitch. "Simon, I believe you have something to give me." Came her stern command.

Growling I unslung _Umbra Vigilans _from my back and removed my gauntlets and placed them on the table I'd found them on before walking gingerly out of the arena. Once I'd left I could see Weiss and Yang arguing, which was no unusual thing, except for the fact I'd heard my name repeatedly mentioned. I just ignored the muted argument and made my way to the last class of the day before I made my way into Vale and to Gregory's safe house.

I sat silently through the rest of the day, not even attempting to focus on my work: instead all my concentration went into trying to heal my injuries and replenish my aura. I completely ignored any question I was asked during the lesson. Once the lesson had ended most of my wounds had healed and I walked out wordlessly, entirely focused on what was to come at Gregory's, even though I had no idea what exactly that was. I slipped into SNST's dorm showered and changed into the same black outfit I'd worn last week (well with a different shirt after the last one got torn up in the fight with Levi.) and made my way out of the dorm building as I fixed the bandanna into place and towards the airship pads.

I was nearly to the pads, deep in thought when I heard Sienna calling out to me. Turning I saw the rest of SNST running to catch up to me, all looking ready to head into Vale as well. "Hey Simon, wait up. I was hoping we could spend Friday together as a team again, it'd be great to be able to chill out and talk things out." Sienna panted as she got to me, trying to corner me into spilling all about my past.

"As much as I would have liked to have spent more time with you guys outside of school, I promised an old friend that I'd catch up with them this afternoon, maybe tomorrow or Sunday. Ok?" I replied, lying flawlessly, well kind of lying.

Sienna looked slightly disappointed but nodded understandingly "I get that, you probably haven't seen your childhood friends in years and want to try and repair lost friendships. Well I hope you and your friend have a good time." She said as she, Teal and Nyanza headed onto the bullhead and I followed onto the same one, but sitting in a corner apart from the rest of SNST, having a pleasant daydream of what life could have been like if The _White Fang _hadn't come visiting all those years ago.

**A/N: **Well there is Chapter 29 and I finally got around to explaining why Sienna is so secretive and vehemently against the _Fist _and the _Fang. _

I'd like to say now that I have finally began rewrites of all 28 previous chapters in _FHTH _and they will be replacing the original uploads over the course of the next several weeks, the first batch will be uploaded in the next few days.

I've also began working on a 2nd Collaborative story with **DELTAGOD**: It is called **RWBY: World of Tanks.** It is basically a humorous tale about the Characters of RWBY playing the MMO "World of Tanks" and being part of all the antics, trolling and fun/rage that go along with that game. So if you like WoT then check this story out on **DELTAGOD**'s profile. -CC Signing off.


	30. Double Life

**A/N: 11,000 views!** Thank-you all for your continued support and interest in _From Hunted to Hunter_! This story only continues due to your continued interest in it. I have rewritten the first 12 chapters and the rewrites will be uploaded at the same time as this chapter. I really can't believe I've hit chapter 30 already! - A very happy CC signing on.

**Replies to Reviews: **

**xThatOnePersonx: **Simon will eventually catch a break... but not just yet.

**DePlexx: **Simon used the wrong tactic: he didn't understand Yang's Semblance and hit her with too much damage too quickly and she went nuclear thus making her unbeatable... combine that with the fact Simon also nearly killed Blake a couple chapters ago, which adds to Yang's anger and thus her strength.

**Tommy2486: **You never know... There may come a point when someone will use Simon's signature dirty move (I have noted that Simon has repeatedly used nut shots in combat haha) against him.

**dghornick: **I thank you greatly and deeply for the compliment about SNST's development as people... I do try to make them as realistic and human as I can. Oobleck's class will see a return in a little bit... it has a specific role to play and it isn't the right time for that... yet. As for JNPR: I've got a lot planned for them which will also be coming soon.

**Nate: **Dude... Glynda would probably slaughter my poor snipers for that... therefore I've decided that your idea is totally happening at some point.

**Chapter 30 Double Life: Friday Evening, Week 5 Gregory's Safe house. Simon's PoV:**

It had taken me a bit to finally lose Sienna and the others so it was a bit late when I had arrived at the safe house. Walking in I found it somewhat crowded with people: Various Fixers and their minders, Gregory's minder as well as Kale and Shauno. On a hologram in the middle of the room was a scrawny, young man whom I could only assume was _Watcher-3 _

"Ok, now that the final asset to this operation is present we can begin." The hologram spoke as I took up a spot in a shadowy corner of the room to watch proceedings.

_"Operation UPPERCUT_ has been put together at the direction of Keeper to accomplish three things:  
1/ the safe relocation of former Black Fist deserters from Vale to Vacuo.  
2/ To lure out and capture Levi Hartman ALIVE, I can't stress that point enough.  
3/ To execute direct action operations against _Black Fist _cells operating in Vale in order to dismantle the cells and their support structure with minimal amounts of collateral damage. " _Watcher-3_ continued, explaining the situation.

"This operation will be conducted in conjunction with _Operation LOWBLOW _being executed by another section of Intelligence against the _White Fang _that has similar objectives. I now turn over to _Cipher-9 _do give details of tonight's operation." _Watcher-3 _finished.

The hologram shut off and Gregory/_Cipher-9 _stepped forward to the centre of the room. "Ok guys, it is a simple extraction of _Black Fist _deserters from their homes in Northern Vale to the docks where they will board a cargo ship to Vacuo. Each pair of operatives will pick up their assigned deserter and bring them to the docks. The two marksmen will be up in a bullhead piloted by _Minder-27 _ hovering above the city to provide sniper support. While our newest asset, codenamed _Legate _will accompany me. Ok people, let's get this done, debrief here once all of the deserters have been moved onto the ship." Gregory finished and clapped his hands signalling all the agents to move out.

As I moved to leave I felt a hand stop me: It was Shauno. "Just like old times, me and Kale watching your back... we haven't failed you yet and we don't intend on starting now, good luck out there." He said quickly as he hefted a sniper rifle over his shoulder and exited the building.

I stood there watching Kale and Shaun leave for a moment before a whistle got my attention and Gregory was signalling me to follow him. Following Gregory out to a car parked outside his safe house I got into the passenger side, feeling extremely uneasy to the point of nervous breakdown about going into this unarmed. Gregory jumped into the driver's seat and took off.

"I noticed you're unarmed _Legate_. That's a first for you." he said sarcastically.

"I' am not like this by choice... and quite simply it is making me so on edge right now it aint even funny." I shot back, the nervousness evident in my tone.

Gregory nodded understandingly. "Well we can't move to our target until the snipers are airborne. So I'am going to take you quickly to a weapons cache at a warehouse on the way, get you a pistol and an SMG to use for tonight, just don't make a habit out of it... if these missions succeed in drawing Levi out and confronting us, I'll need you with your staff and gauntlets." Gregory answered.

I nodded and leaned back, trying to relax and mentally prepare for the mission, but my mind wandering back to Sienna and what she would think of me saving the lives of those who hate her and her kind.

About 15 minutes later Gregory pulled into a small lot that contained a small shed, a heavily guarded shed, I could see dormant AKs hidden around the shadows of the pitch black lot. "Wait here, I'll grab what you need." Gregory said as he got out and disappeared into the dark.

Gregory returned in about 5 minutes with a bundle of stuff for me. "MX-9 sidearm with 3 spare mags and a _Death Adder _.45ACP sub-machine gun plus 4 spare magazines. Also a balaclava and thermal imaging goggles like mine, if you roll with Intelligence, you gotta look the part." Gregory chuckled as he handed off the bundle of gear for me to sort out into the pouches on my webbing while he drove.

Once I'd gotten everything stowed away I sat in silence for a few minutes before I began to chuckle lightly as Gregory drove. He ignored it for the first few times but when I kept randomly chuckling he eventually shook his head and faced me. "What's so funny _Legate_?" he asked, slightly annoyed that he had no idea why I was laughing.

"Well _Cipher_, to work for the government, you got to be literate. For the entire time I knew you in the Fist: You couldn't read a sentence to save your life. When did you bloody learn to read and write?" I replied, now cackling with laughter.

Gregory was less than impressed with my reminding him of his early troubles. "You're such a dick sometimes!" He shot back, his tone annoyed yet still focused on the job at hand.

I just shrugged and went back to checking over the weapons and goggles, I didn't like going into a potential fire fight with weapons I haven't tested, but it was better than unarmed.

"_Cipher_, why the sudden urgency in getting this operation underway?" I inquired, genuinely curious about the sudden rush of activity.

"Well since you nearly got killed, over a dozen bodies of former _Black Fist _members have been found tortured and mutilated all with messages saying that all deserters will get this fate nailed to their sternum. This has included 2 of our former trainers: Not the infamous _Sir _but his assistants." Gregory replied keeping his eyes on the road as he spoke this time. I nodded slowly and then sat in silence.

Gregory eventually pulled up to a small, rundown apartment complex in a none-too-friendly-looking neighbourhood. Gregory pulled his balaclava down and I did the same. "Ok _Legate _follow my lead and do exactly as I say, just let me do the talking. Ok let's go." he said as he exited the vehicle, a Death Adder drawn as he ran into the building, me close on his heels. We ran up several flights of stairs, eventually coming to a long hallway. We walked slowly down it towards a door towards the far end, keeping our senses attuned, trying to pick up any sense or aura of danger.

Finding none Gregory and I edged further up the hall, flashing our weapons at any who dared open their doors to investigate the masked men. I could sense their fear: Fear that Vale Intelligence would make them disappear. It hit me that this secretive organisation got the job done by inspiring fear of death or other painful fates and intimidation, much like the _Black Fist _had, but these guys were good guys... right?

Eventually we came up to a door and Gregory stopped. "Ok _Legate_, I' am going to go in and get this guy prepped for evac. if _ANYONE _regardless of age, gender or whether or not they're armed comes up those stairs or leaves their homes... you are to kill them without hesitation." Came Gregory's firm order as he stepped into the apartment.

I could tell it was one he didn't like or want to give but it was something that he himself had been ordered to do. I nervously kneeled by the door, my eyes looking down the holographic sight of the .45 SMG back towards the stairwell, I could hear locks clicking as the other residents took shelter and hoped no bloodshed would eventuate.

I heard the door open behind me and a man exit, I recognised the voice from somewhere, but where I couldn't for the life of me remember where. "_Legate_ take point, I'll stay with the package." Gregory ordered and I wordlessly stepped forward, my weapon raised, my breath hitching a little from nerves, this whole situation was very tense and compounded by my lack of my usual weapons. I got to the stairs and quickly peaked around the corner into the stairwell, seeing nothing I breathed a sigh of relief I made signalled the all clear to Gregory and the package and I began to make my way down the stairs, fully expecting Levi to jump out at any moment and gun me down or hack me apart.

I got to the door (which we had closed behind us) and waited for Gregory and the package. Looking back I instantly recognised the face as the former commander of the _Black Fist's 117th Regiment_ Brigadier Carvel. Except gone was the look of determination, pride and Atlesian Army uniform adorned with many medals. The man before me was in dirty, unwashed rags and had a forlorn look of a broken man upon his face. I felt sorry for the man... he'd have to be as old as Kruger if not closer to 70, it must have been very hard for him to leave everything he had ever done and come down here to Vale. I felt sorry for this shell of a man. "Hold here _Legate_, I gotta call the overwatch bird to get us cover as we leave." Gregory ordered in a whisper.

I nodded and peaked out a window, I couldn't see shit outside, so I flicked on the thermal goggles that Gregory had given me and I looked out again: this time I couldn't see anything that could pose a threat, but I thought it better to get confirmation from Kale and Shauno as well as to have their eagle eyes covering us as we leave.

"Overwatch, it's _Cipher-9_ requesting aerial cover as we exit the target building." Gregory radioed as he, I and Carvel kneeled by the door. There was no reply for about two minutes until our earpieces crackled.

"Yeah, Overwatch here, sorry just had to put the bird down over at _MacLennan's _for some snacks. We're overhead now though and there is nothing outside except for your car and what a couple going at it in a back alley." Came Kale's smartass answer, cheeky prick he was.

Gregory rolled his eyes at the completely casual, unserious response of the snipers. He tapped me on the shoulder. I then opened the door and sprinted out of the building, running to the car and swinging open the bullet proof door to use as cover as I looked out for any threats that may escape the notice of Kale and Shauno in the Bullhead circling above us.

I heard my earpiece crackle and Shauno's voice came through "Hey _Legate_, your head looks really nice with crosshairs over it." I heard him say, a chuckle in his voice. It took all my effort not to dive into another bit of cover as it would spook Gregory and Carvel.

"Shauno, when I see you... I' am going to kick you right in your balls so hard they'll shoot right out your mouth!" I growled into the radio, only to hear raucous laughter in response.

"Oh you are so easy to antagonise, don't worry... we got a photo of you in our crosshairs, just so you know forever that your life is in our hands." Came Shaun's reply.

I shook my head and turned my radio off for a moment so I could cool down and resist the urge to randomly shoot into the air, hoping to hit Shauno right in the ass.

A moment later, Gregory and Carvel made it to the car and the former Brigadier lunged into the back seat and I climbed in beside him as Gregory got into the driver's seat.

"Sit tight, it will be a bumpy ride to our destination." Gregory ordered as he gunned the engine and took off like a pro racer.

As the car raced through the streets I eyed off the old officer sitting next to me, he looked genuinely scared and confused. "Brigadier, when did you finally leave the Fist's service?" I asked casually, trying to make the old man feel slightly more comfortable.

I could see Gregory shoot me an angry glance through the rear vision mirror, reminding me of the rules about no speaking. I sure as hell wasn't going to be playing by the rules intelligence sets Gregory... I wasn't one of them, not yet at least.

Carvel turned to look at me, a small look of recognition in his eyes "Ahh, so my saviours are also deserters? How Ironic." Came Carvel's reply, his tone one of defeat, but hinted with both contentment and disgust.

"In answer to your question. I left only a few months ago after the 117th was all but destroyed in battle against General Ironwood's forces. Ironwood and I served together for much of our lives. Though Ironwood always served Atlas and the kingdoms first... even when they were wrong, I however served humanity first and foremost, which is why I joined the _Black Fist_. I' am not really a deserter like most others: I didn't run because I had seen a supposed error in my ways: We were justified in what we did to those filthy Faunus. I only left because the _Fist _no longer had a use for me... they were moving away from conventional regimental formations and towards more guerrilla based tactics: something I knew little about, so I took my retirement in Vale, though of course it seems I' am going to Vacuo now." The old general replied.

I nodded, instantly taking a dislike to the man for his views on Faunus no aligned with the _White Fang_. _'It's men like Carvel that causes so much hurt to Faunus like Sienna... even if indirectly.'_ I thought, again sympathising with my partner... even if I knew she'd never speak to me again when she found out about my past, I knew it wouldn't stay secret forever... I just hoped it would stay quiet long enough for me to release it of my own accord.

"And what of you.. _Legate_ I believe you're called. What made you leave the service of your species?" Carvel asked, curious about his protectors.

I really wanted to just ignore him, but I knew I'd left myself open to this line of questioning. "I left after the Atlesian capital assassinations: Killing other humans didn't seem right to me. Even if they were sympathetic to Faunus." I answered in a tone so cold it would put Snowflake to shame.

Carvel looked at me curiously, a hint of disapproval on his face. But the old general knew better than to voice his opinions when his life was literally in mine and Gregory's hands. Instead he just sat back and tried to make himself comfortable while I sat beside him, running my finger over my weapon's trigger.

_'Yeah you sit back and shut up you bastard.' _I thought, I had no problems with helping actual deserters who like me had realised their errors. But men like Carvel who still fostered hatred for all Faunus, not just the _White Fang_ made me sick. _'Even though I was once exactly like them.' _My conscience reminded me, which made me sigh internally and try to forget about it all.

Gregory and mine's earpieces crackled and _Minder-27 _could be heard "_Cipher_, we've got trouble, one of the Fixer teams got hit by Levi, their package has been eliminated and both agents are wounded. Be on the lookout for Levi or his thugs. Keeper has ordered a Head-hunter team be despatched to meet you at the port in case things get a little heated. We'll continue to provide overwatch when we can." _Minder-27 _announced.

The name _head-hunter_ clicked something in my brain, a memory of something that I'd been told by that slime Dex when I'd interrogated him. "Hey _Cipher_, what exactly are the_ head-hunters_?" I asked, not bothering to look it up on the dustnet.

Gregory looked at me and chuckled "Well they are some badass motherfuckers who along with us at intelligence do a lot of Vale's dirty work... these guys operate in 5 person teams and they can be identified by their laughing skull masks and the machete they all carry... which they use to decapitate their kills, gruesome and crude yet highly effective in scaring the shit out of people, basically the bogey men for bad guys."

I nodded in understanding, These guys certainly sounded as though they weren't to be fucked around with. We continued to drive, watching every car for signs of hostility. We edged ever closer to the port, the atmosphere was thick with tension after receiving the news about Levi striking. We were about 2km from the docks when disaster struck: a large 4 wheel drive came out of nowhere and rammed the side of our car.

"Oh fuck! Simon, get up through the sunroof and feed them some lead!" Gregory ordered as he swerved through the traffic.

"FUCK THIS!" I yelled as I opened the sunroof and popped through only to be met by bullets whizzing past my head. funnelling all my aura into my shield I aimed the SMG at the large 4wd and opened fire in a short burst, aiming for the tires but missing and instead hitting the doors. The windows were open and I could see Faunus inside: which meant _The White Fang_.

"Oh you fucking Faunus want some aye! Well have some!" I yelled out as I began firing towards the windows, hitting and killing the front passenger. I felt adrenaline pump into my system and the world slowed down... this was my first real combat in nearly 18 months, since the train incident and damn it felt good to be back in the game. I felt a bullet from one of their guns hit me right in the forehead, only to be deflected away by my aura.

I didn't feel angry... I was calm, I was focused I just let my lethal instincts take over. I once more raised my weapon and fired another burst towards the back seat, killing the armed Faunus sitting there. By now the driver of the 4wd was trying to ram us off the road and was using his dead passenger as a shield so I couldn't get a shot on him. _'What I wouldn't give for a grenade or two right now!'_ I thought as I fully climbed out of the car and leapt off and onto the other vehicle, nearly getting cleaned up by a truck as I did. I had lost my SMG in the landing so I drew the pistol that Gregory had given me and leaned down over the side of the roof and into the driver's window, peppering the driver with bullets.

What I hadn't really thought through was what I'd do once I'd killed the driver, as the dead driver slumped onto the dash. The car swerved and careened off the road, throwing me over the edge of the overpass. As I fell towards the ground I frantically wondered if my Aura will protect me after such a fall from internal and concussive injuries. I couldn't be more than 20m off the ground when I hit the top of a bullhead being piloted by _Minder-27_. The sudden sensation of flying did not help me, I felt my stomach wretch as the Bullhead swiftly climbed in altitude.

sliding across and down the side of the bullhead I flipped myself inside and landed square on top of Shauno.

"Oh you fucking shit! Get off me!" The lanky sniper complained as he tried to roll out from under the twisted pile of limbs I'd become. Kale grabbed my arm and hauled me off his partner.

"Nice of you to _Drop by_." Kale chuckled.

The vain in my head nearly burst "Dude... please, leave the horrible Puns to Yang!" I scowled as I huddled into a small corner of the bullhead.

"Whose Yang?" Kale asked, suddenly curious about the queen of puns.

Once I'd managed to stop shaking from my fall and sudden flight which I despised I withdrew my scroll and brought up a photo of Yang that was on her _Dustbook_ page before showing it to Kale. Who upon seeing the busty blonde brawler became very pale. "Oh no... no, no, no! Not her!" The bulky sniper whimpered.

I looked perplexedly at Kale, as did Shauno... at least until he saw Yang's photo then he to seemed to go catatonic. "Ok you to... what the actual fuck is so scary about Yang? Or are you two just gawking at those DD's?" I asked, face palming at my perverted friends.

"Dude, no... for once it isn't the tits. This girl Yang... she came into the club one night when we were working security and just fully fucked the place up... us included!" Shaun replied, sounding thoroughly traumatised.

At this point I couldn't help but laugh for a good 10 seconds until the bullhead jolted in flight and caused me to curl into a ball, suddenly remembering my hatred for flight.

"_Legate_ come in! I need to know if you're alive... I saw you get thrown from the freeway." Came Gregory's frantic call through the radio.

"_Cipher _I' am fine... I dropped in on the snipers, I'll meet you at the ports." I replied deadpanned as I clicked off the radio, my hands shaking as the euphoric rush of adrenaline that washed over me during combat slowly wore away.

I fidgeted my hands around: trying to stop them shaking as the adrenaline wore off and the realisation that this was the closest to death I'd been in so long, I'd gotten soft and used to knowing there was a safety net to ensure no real harm came to me.

I felt Kale's hand clasp my shoulder "You ok there lil mate?" He asked, obviously concerned at seeing me in such a state.

"I'll be fine... Just getting used to combat again." I replied, finally managing to calm my breathing and slow down the shakes.

Kale squeezed my shoulder before retaking his position laying in the doorway with his sniper rifle. I still just sat in the corner, out of the door I could see the Bullhead shadowing Gregory and Carvel with several _White Fang_ in pursuit of them and out in the distance I could see the dock closing in on us and with that a hopefully successful end to this mission, but I wasn't happy about it. Not about letting someone like Carvel get away when he probably deserved whatever the _White Fang _had in store for him. I wasn't sympathetic to Carvel, not after he admitted that he still hates any and all Faunus... part of me could begin to understand where Sienna was coming from, why she despised those who use violence against those weaker and who hate without genuine reason. I felt quite guilty, knowing that I'd just helped someone who would gladly see both my partner Sienna and friend Velvet dead or in chains without a 2nd thought.

The Bullhead landed in the docks only about 50m from the ship and the snipers and I jumped out, they with assault rifles drawn with their snipers slung over their backs and me with a pistol at the ready. I could see several soldiers hidden around the shadows, I counted four, Gregory had said that the head-hunters moved in teams of five which to me meant that there was a sniper nearby watching over the area for any threats.

Moments later Gregory's car sped through the large lanes of shipping containers, closely followed by two more cars that I could see contained the two remaining Fixer-Minder pairs and their packages. The cars skidded to a stop bumper to bumper with each other, forming a wall between us and the way they'd came. I found out a moment later as several cars sped through giving chase all with windows bristling with guns firing at us. "Who invited these assholes!" I heard Kale yell as he opened fire back at the cars from which emerged both _White Fang_ who had been chasing Gregory and Levi with _Black Fist _goons who had been chasing one of the other vehicles.

"What is this bullshit!" Shauno yelled angrily as a bullet zinged mere inches from his head.

I raised my pistol and fired a round at Levi, just to get his attention and to vent for last week's incident, the bullet bounced harmlessly off his aura. Looking around I could see the four shadows had disappeared _'Where have those guys gone? they were here a moment ago!'_ I wondered as I saw Levi charging towards me, only to be faced with a large _White Fang _member who was wielding a massive chainsaw as well as a dagger wielding Gregory. By now the fire had ceased momentarily as the free leaders all circled each other.

I quickly looked back and saw the deserters, Carvel included being rushed by one of the Minders aboard as the Fixers and the other Minders knelt behind our cars: weapons trained on the various enemies around.

"So, it seems we have a nice little party here right now... care to tell me why you motherfuckers had to ruin a perfectly good joyride?" Gregory questioned sarcastically as he readied his flame-thrower gauntlets and daggers.

"Because you're aiding the enemy _Cipher_... allowing deserters to leave Vale alive is unacceptable to the _Fist_. Levi snarled in an animalistic tone.

"Carvel is guilty of crimes against Faunus... he must die!" the _White Fang _officer spoke in a heavily accented tone.

In the background the sound of the ships horn sounding as the vessel cast off from the port.

"Well sorry to spoil your cold blooded murders... but that boat has quite literally sailed." Gregory quipped, assuming a combat stance.

The sounds of metal blades meeting bone echoed through the area as out of the darkness came four black-clad figures wearing masks with a laughing skull on them each wielding a machete with which they hacked the head off their targets. A 5th person fell as their head exploded from a bullet which as I had guessed announced the presence of the Head-Hunter's sniper.

"I see your friends have been acquainted with my friends in the Head-Hunters, No one else need die tonight: just lay down your weapons, hand us Levi and you can all leave. Or you can lose your heads quite literally trying to fight." Gregory said with a deathly finality to his voice. He didn't want anyone to die but neither would he hesitate to kill if the situation called for it.

The _White Fang _Officer growled but could see the hopeless situation he was now in an took the out offered to him, lowering his weapon and backing away into a car with the lucky survivors of both the gunfight and the Head-Hunters.

Levi however took a combat position "Me surrender?" I think not! FIRE men KILL THEM ALL!" He called and then all hell broke loose. Levi began firing his tomahawks at Gregory who replied with a burst from his flame gauntlets. While Levi's surviving thugs turned on the Head-Hunters: only for them to be met by machetes to the neck, all of them being decapitated swiftly by the faceless, brutally merciless soldiers.

It was all over in about 15 seconds, only Levi was left standing of the _Black Fist _group who'd arrived here but he had lobbed down several flash-bang and smoke grenades to incapacitate us as he made his escape: hijacking the Bullhead that _Minder-27_ had flown here.

"Oi That's my Bullhead you lil shit!" The minder cursed as he fired at the armoured underbelly of the VTOL as it took off and sped away.

"Oh _Keeper_ is going to have your ass for that one _Minder_, he does hate it when we lose Bullheads to the enemy." Gregory quipped morbidly as he sheathed his knives looking around the carnage and catching a glimpse of the shadowy head-hunters melted back into the darkness, disappearing into the night until the next time they're called upon to blood their machetes.

Looking over the area: now covered in blood, headless corpses and shell casings I shook my head "And here I thought you guys were meant to be invisible shadows... not leaving evidence of your activities, you're as hopeless as Lachlan and the Pyro twins back in _Rum Squad_ at doing anything with stealth." I commented bemused about the fact that everything I do seems to end in a gunfight when just once I'd like to be able to do something stealthily and leave no traces of my grim work.

Kale and Shauno laughed at my comment, and began happily discussing the time I'd made Roman vomit on our first mission as a squad.

"Yeah, yeah I know this isn't how things normally end at all. Well, the Fixers, Minders and I need to report this major fuckup to the _Keeper_. So you three can go and do whatever... probably get some rest if you can, it's probably going to be a long weekend." Gregory ordered, addressing the snipers and I before him and the other agents got into two of the tree cars and drove off, leaving one for us.

"Sleep? fuck that... I need some Rum." Kale said, obviously ragged from tonight.

"Rum sounds good... and something to eat." Shauno agreed.

I merely rolled my eyes and followed the pair into the remaining car, _'This is going to be a very long night.' _I thought with a chuckle as the car took off towards Junior's club.

**That next morning, Ozpin's office. Ozpin's PoV:**

As I watched the video feed of last night's Intelligence operation that was being streamed from _Watcher-3_ I felt disappointed in Simon, to have fallen back with old friends and old habits. _'Such wasted potential, why must he return to that life of needless violence which I have tried to steer him from.' _I thought sadly, but also thinking of how to make this work for the betterment of Vale and hopefully Simon as well. But first the young man and I needed to have a very long, serious chat about this double life he has now chosen to lead.

"Glynda, would you be able to go into Vale to the address I provide to you and bring Simon back to Beacon. It is important I speak with him this morning." I asked my deputy who merely gave me one of her evil glares before exiting the office. I leaned back in my chair trying to connect the many dots that made up this complicated situation but having little success.

**A/N: **I'd like to thank **xThatOnePersonx **for allowing me to use the Head-Hunters that feature in their story **Dog Days** which I highly recommend taking a look at: especially if you want to see more antics from Kale and Shauno.

Apart from that I don't have much left to say except that I'll continue rewriting earlier chapters to be released when I post Chapter 31.

As always please Read and Review, I always take the time to read and answer any questions, comments or criticisms brought up. -CC Signing off.


	31. Choices

**I just want to wish our beloved Monty a complete and speedy recovery from the tragic medical emergency that has befallen him. I wish Monty's family as well as all the people at RT all the best and I hope you're all coping with this... your community of loyal fans and followers are all behind you 110%. A GoFundMe has been started that has raised nearly 130k (at the time I have written this... so it has probably gone up) for Monty's medical expenses in less than 12 hours... it just goes to show how much of an impact that Monty has had on so many people all across the world and how readily that those people will give back to help Monty and his family in their time of need. **

**Get well soon Monty! fromCC-2224 Commander Cody.**

**A/N:** It seems a few people didn't really like me dragging Simon back into the dark shadowy life and getting involved with Gregory, Levi and the other darker elements such as the Fist, the Fang or the Head-Hunters... Which I totally get: this story has had more than its fair share of darkness so far... unfortunately things will continue to get dark from time to time for Simon, especially around certain points of the story later on. But there is always light to be found in the end of all darkness... for the dark can't exist without the light.

A big shout out to guest reviewer **NATE **for the idea about how to begin this chapter... **SOMEONE GIVE THAT MAN A DATE WITH WEISS!**

**Reply to Reviews:**

**Tommy2486:** I hope you get this job you dream for haha. But yeah, about Simon's little side job: My decision for going down this path shall all be explained in good time later on in Simon's journey through Remnant.

**xThatOnePersonx:** I thank-you for the compliment about my writing of the Head-Hunters which you created and have allowed me to use. Also yes... Glynda meeting Kale and Shauno is very much cringe worthy.

**dghornick:** I began writing this in August 2014... so it is actually 150k+ in just over 5 months: I average 30k words for this story per month heh, but I accept your congratulations nonetheless and I thank-you for them. As for your comment about the frequency of events like the ones in C30: Chapters like this will appear from time to time as the hunt for Levi and Simon's interactions with people like Gregory and the Snipers continues... but a lot of the story will still take place in Beacon and the surrounding area. As for Ozpin... you'll find out soon enough in this chapter.

**Courtney O'Brien:** An interesting question: I wish I could say that Velvet will never see anything but the happy _light _side of Simon... but I' am not going to lie to myself or my readers: So do be prepared for Velvet seeing Simon's full fury at some point.

**Chapter 31: Choices. Saturday, Week 5 approx. 9am. Simon's PoV:**

It had been a pretty wild night last night. Between Kale, Shaun and I, we had several million Lien in the bank... and that could buy ALOT of alcohol. I don't remember much... only that the sun was rising when we finally emerged from Junior's club and stumbled into the snipers apartment.

I was lightly dozing when I felt it: A commanding, angry Aura storming towards the apartment, but I merely assumed it was someone being angry in another apartment, maybe having lost a wallet or not gotten laid and I paid it no heed as I tried to sleep off last night's piss up.

At least that was until the apartment door smashed open with a blast of dust which sent me flying across the room and awoke Kale and Shauno, the latter of which had a traffic cone on their head (Don't ask me why: It is just a fact of being drunk that you steal random useless objects like traffic cones or funny street signs such as _Bonner Street_) and both had their assault rifles in their hands.

"Who the hell are- Wow, well aren't you just stunning." Shauno commented as Glynda Goodwitch stepped through the now smashed door. Looking angry as all hell yet walking with grace and elegance and her blonde hair bounced as she strode.

Glynda paid no attention to the attempted flirt as she turned to me "Pack your gear Simon, you're to return to Beacon at once." She ordered in her usual tone of anger.

"Now, now... no need to take our friend away! It's the weekend and teachers have no power on the weekends!" Kale commented sarcastically as he and Shaun stood between me and Glynda, both of them swaying a bit as they were still drunk.

Glynda turned to the bulkier of the snipers and pointed her riding crop at them "I advise you shut up and not meddle in the affairs of my students again!" The deputy headmistress commanded.

"Wow a riding crop... kinky, you can stay as long as you like." Shauno commented with a wink to Glynda who now looked absolutely incensed.

It took all my effort not to just burst out laughing at my friends comment. _'Damn it where is my scroll when I need it... I just hope Glynda doesn't kill these two.' _I thought.

"Excuse me? Did you just insinuate something of a sexual nature to me? Do you know who I' am?!" Glynda asked, an angry aura filling the room.

"Remnant's sexiest home invader?" Shauno answered suggestively.

"Sexy stripper Simon ordered over to wake us up?" Kale answered hopeful.

By this time I felt like I was choking by trying to hold the laughter in.

"I'am Professor Glynda Goodwitch. Deputy headmistress at Beacon. And you are two criminal guns-for-hire who need to learn to zip it." Glynda answered, her patience obviously being tested.

"Well aren't you just a feisty little cougar... or are you a MILF?." Kale commented sarcastically.

"A teacher? Well...I've spent enough time on the dustnet to see where this is going. I've always had a thing for women in places of authority." Shauno shot back instantly in his most sexual tone, not giving any thought for the ramifications.

A small twitch could be seen in Glynda's eyebrows as she swished her crop and a baseball bat that sat near the door began to float and point right at Shauno's crown jewels.

Shaun finally realised his mistake and he placed the traffic cone he had woken up wearing over his groin. "PROTECT ME CONE!" He screamed as the bat flew through the air and smacked him fair in the penis. A painful scream filled the room as Shauno dropped to the ground, clutching his groin.

"Wow, bitch why did you do that? He meant you no harm... only pleasure!" Kale yelled at Glynda as he knelt down and helped his friend to their feet.

I could see the bat still hovering and I could see Glynda contemplating also smacking Kale so grabbed the floating bat and hurled it out the window and try to get Glynda out of here before she really hurt the snipers.

"Professor Goodwitch, you had come here to escort me back to Beacon, not trash apartments and cause men pain in an area that they should never feel pain." I rebuked the teacher, hoping to deflect some of the anger off my friends and onto me... I also hoped that Ozpin would ensure no permanent harm came to me for taking one for the team like this.

"You really must reconsider the company you keep Simon, these two are not the sort of people that Beacon students should associate with, especially if they're encouraging you to treat women in such a manner. Now grab your things, we're leaving." Glynda snapped as she turned and strode out the door.

I turned to the snipers who both gave me a thumbs up for saving their asses. "Tell Cipher that I'll contact him tonight." I whispered as I left the two men to rebuild their now shattered egos... and Shauno's busted balls.

**Ozpin's Office, 1 hour later. Simon's PoV:**

We had arrived back at Beacon 15 minutes ago and Since then I'd been waiting as Glynda probably explained to Ozpin why they're going to be getting billed for a trashed apartment.

The door to the elevator that would take me up to Ozpin's office opened and I stepped in, pressing the appropriate button to take me to the headmasters office.

Entering the office I could see an amused Ozpin sitting in his chair with surprise, surprise: a cup of coffee in his hands. Standing beside him was the eternally irate Professor Goodwitch.

"Thank-you for your colourful report Glynda, now please: Let Simon and I talk, I' am sure you have a get well card and some cheques to write after this morning." Ozpin chuckled as he sipped his coffee.

"Yes Professor, I'll attend to that right away." Glynda growled through her teeth as she strode out of the office, leaving just Ozpin and I.

"You wished to see me professor." I asked mechanically, deciding to take on my faceless, emotionless soldier facade until I could work out why I had been called here... I had a suspicion but I hoped that I was wrong.

"Take a seat Simon, This may take a while." Ozpin said, it was more an order than a request and I obeyed. "It seems that you have been quite busy on your weekends away from Beacon." Ozpin said as a matter of fact, flicking on a hologram that showed a drones video camera showing me (albeit wearing a balaclava) standing through the sunroof of Gregory's car firing at the _White Fang _car.

"You can't prove that was me... I don't carry firearms like the one shown, and The person is wearing a mask." I replied defensively.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow and opened up a folder that sat on his desk. "Simon Alexander. Codenamed: _Legate_. Operation: _UPPERCUT_. Role: Operational support to _Cipher-9_. Do you wish for me to continue Mr Alexander?" Ozpin asked, not angrily but I could sense disappointment.

"Ok, so that was me... I' am not doing anything wrong: I' am working with Vale's intelligence service. Besides this is all meant to be _Top Secret_, how'd you find out?" I asked, trying to deflect the topic of conversation.

"When I first met you, I told you that I' am a man of many sources... very little goes on in Vale without my knowledge, especially things that involve my students." Ozpin replied, reminding me of the very similar answer I'd received when I'd asked him how he'd found me all the way up in Atlas.

"When I first met you: You were a pent up ball of rage, hate and self-loathing who could not let go of his past. I offered you a place here to try and break out from the chains of your past, to help you choose your own path in life. Now you have been at my school for about 6 weeks and while I will admit you have made dramatic improvements with regards to your ability to feel empathy, compassion and to form friendships. You're still stuck in old habits and getting involved in things that you have no place being involved with: last night being a prime example. Even when I put steps in place to try and keep you out of it" Ozpin said, disappointment evident in his voice.

The pieces fell together in my head "So that's why you confiscated my weapons... Well part of it anyway. As for last night, I had good reason to be there Ozpin." I replied in indignation, which elicited a look of curiosity from the professor.

"Would that reason revolve around assisting people like wanted war criminal Brigadier Carvel escape the police operation meant to capture him within the next few days?" Ozpin asked, almost accusingly.

"For the record: I don't like Carvel, I despise his views of the Faunus... even if I once shared them. But helping him and any other _Black Fist _deserter is only a means to an end for me." I replied as calm as I could be.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow "Care to share what this end is Mr Alexander?"

"A friend of mine is in trouble and what I' am doing is giving me an opportunity to save him... from the _Black Fist_, from death, injury or imprisonment... but most of all to save him from his own fractured mind." I replied passionately.

Ozpin Smiled "So this is a selfless endeavour. Nobel intentions with ignoble execution. Tell me Simon: Did you choose to get involved in this? or were you merely told to meet someone, someplace and then your involvement grew from there with little or no option to say no?" Ozpin asked, it was obvious he knew the answer but he wanted to hear me say it.

"I wasn't given an option to leave or say no... even if I had have had such a choice: I would not have exercised it... This is something I must do." I replied, not really knowing or caring why my choices.. or lack thereof even matters.

Ozpin nodded in thought and opened up a drawer in his desk and withdrew an object: A Black Pawn. The same one I'd picked up during initiation. I eyed the piece curiously as Ozpin placed it between us. "Tell me Mr Alexander: Why did you choose this specific piece?" Ozpin asked a knowing glint in his eye.

I sighed "I chose it because a pawn is what I'am: I go where I'am told, I fight and kill who I' am told to fight and kill... and I die when I' am no longer needed for a pawn if expendable in the grand scheme of things. I accept that grim fact of life and I try to make best of it, but I'll never complain or bitch about it." I responded, feeling slight disgust at myself for admitting my thought process about my selection and about my lot in life.

Ozpin shook his head "That's a pessimistic way to look at the world... as being nothing but a weapon for someone else's victory."

"It is a realistic view in my opinion." I replied.

"Maybe it is.. but it doesn't need to be, you've not had a lot of choices in your life and the ones you did have were not really choices: The _Black Fist_ or death. The _SSB_ or death. I doubt you even saw my offer to attend Beacon as a choice." Ozpin queried, the way I refused to meet his eyes confirmed that suspicion.

"You may once have been a pawn of others... but it does not need to remain that way. The curious things about pawns is that if they make the right choices can become more than just a pawn: A knight, a Bishop.. even a queen." Ozpin spoke with a slightly amused chuckle as he listed off the last, most powerful piece on the board.

I raised an eyebrow at the comment of me being a queen, but otherwise I couldn't fault his logic about the role and life of pawns. Even the smallest insignificant pawn could eventually be the one to check the king and end the game.

"So will you try your best to begin making the right choices: not just for yourself but also those closest to you. Because I doubt that Miss Reynolds or Miss Scarlatina would be impressed at all to hear that a man like Carvel has escaped justice... even if it is to help another person like you." Ozpin said as he pushed his glasses back up his face, his eyes fixated upon me as he waited for my answer.

"If you're asking me to abandon my friends, then I can't Ozpin... even if it costs me my place at Beacon. But I simply will not abandon the only people who truly understand my history and share in that. Now I should go pack." I said sadly as I stood to leave.

"Now hold on Simon, I never said you'd been expelled or even given you an ultimatum as such." Ozpin said calmly.

"Well I've made a choice Ozpin: I'll stick by my friends from my time in the _Fist_. They're in the same boat that I' am and I'll be damned if I'll even consider abandoning them just to keep my place here." I responded, my anger coming to the fore.

Ozpin raised an open palm to signal for me to calm. "I shall respect your choice and I wouldn't ask you to make that choice for once again it isn't really a choice: The men you've fought and bled beside for years or a school of strangers you've known for 6 weeks. No, I' am merely asking you to consider the affects of your choice to continue in this endeavour will have on your friendships with others, what you do can't remain secret forever especially seeing as last night's shootout has been plastered all over the TV all morning. One day you will be presented by a choice on how you live your life: As a huntsman looking forward into the future and working to protect others or a shadow clinging to the past who only looks out for themselves. I just hope you think long and hard and make the right choice when it is presented to you. " Ozpin explained.

All my anger dissipated in a moment and I turned to the headmaster "Well that's going to make for some interesting explaining if anyone works out I was there... but until then I'll take your advice and think through my future very carefully, but I need to save my friend from himself before he does something to harm innocents. Also: Thank-you for the opportunity to come here... I do appreciate it even if it does seem that I neglect the opportunity. Good day Professor Ozpin." I said as I exited the office in a mood of deep self reflection as I made my way to the SNST dorm.

**A/N: **A very short chapter today, I didn't want to put too much into this... just a bit of humour with Glynda and the Snipers. As well as a deep and meaningful with Ozpin and Simon about the choices Simon makes and how they will affect him.

I don't have any more rewrites of earlier chapters to update at this time... but I will continue with that job as I get time.

**I have decided to write a Valentine's day Fanfic: But I'll leave who is Simon's Valentine to you guys: ****PM me or leave it in a review who you'd like to see as Simon's Valentine! ****-Poll closes 10/02/2015 -CC Signing off.**


	32. Cardinal Sins part 1

**I wanted to say so much more than this but as I began typing, words failed to express my feelings about this tragedy, so I'll keep this brief: **

**As you've all by now heard: Our beloved Monty has passed on from this world earlier this week at the tender age of 33 and I'd like to extend my deepest condolences to his family, colleagues at RT and his friends. Monty's passing has left a hole in the heart of every member of the RT**** family****, especially the RWBY fandom. His passion for animating and storytelling have inspired so many people, myself included to let our imaginations run wild: to draw, to write, to create and that will become a big part his legacy: Us.. the Fanfiction writers, the Fanart drawers who have taken our inspirations from RWBY and from Monty to put in the effort and time to entertain others and hopefully in turn inspire other people to let their imaginations go free and create more amazing works of literary and visual art, thus perpetuating Monty's legacy of creativity and passion.**

**The RT crew, have asked that the fans to "Do something creative" to honour the memory of Monty and that is exactly what I shall do: I'll continue to write Fanfiction and to entertain my readers and I hope inspire some of them to themselves take up writing, be it RWBY Fanfics, another fandom or just their own fiction.**

**I shall miss you and you shall always be at the forefront of my mind whenever I write fiction of any kind, for you are the one who inspired me to take writing back up at a time in my life when I was unsure if I'd ever be able to write creative works again and I owe you so much for that. **

**RIP Monty Oum 1981-2015**

**Signed: CC-2224 Commander Cody.**

**A/N:** And with that being said, as Monty said: "Keep Moving Forward" and thus, the show goes on.

I' am glad to see that you all seemed to enjoy Glynda meeting Kale and Shauno, it really was such a fun scene to write. And I look forward to future scenes with them up to their usual antics (and the occasional one of them being ultimate bad asses).

Voting for the contest about who Simon's valentine will be is well underway and currently stand like this:  
Velvet: 2 votes  
Weiss : 2 votes  
**Blake: 3 votes**  
Neo: 1 vote  
Penny: 1 vote  
Glynda Goodwitch: 1 vote (Yes this did actually get a vote :P).

The contest closes on 10/02/15 so if you haven't voted and you'd like a say in who I write about... leave your vote in a PM to me or in a review. Also in response to a couple people asking: The valentines fic is a one-shot and has no bearing or impact whatsoever on_ FHTH_, it is an entirely standalone fic but I shall post it as a chapter on _FHTH_.

**Chapter 32: Cardinal Sins Part 1. Tuesday Week 6 (Same time as Jaundice pt1) , Simon's PoV:**

It had been four days since the incident in the Sniper's apartment and I hadn't heard from the pair since then, I honestly hoped they were alright, but damn what happened was just so damned funny.

I sat up in my bed, Teal was out having a jog as she usually did with me of a morning but today as with yesterday as well, I felt like staying in and getting an extra sleep in and catching up with Sienna and talk to her a bit more, make sure she was ok. As I dragged myself out of bed I saw Nyanza sitting in the corner reading the latest copy of _X-ray &amp; Vav_ "Morning Mon Capitaine: bit of a sleepy head today I see. Weekend a bit to hectic for you?"

I raised an eyebrow before chuckling at the thought of Saturday morning "You could say it got a bit hairy at some points... but no, I just want to sleep in after so long of early mornings." I replied as I walked over to my cupboard to retrieve my uniform for the day, deciding today to try and not wear armour the entire day... just to see how I feel.

"So Simon, what did you do on the weekend? I heard you did something so extreme that you got hauled into Ozpin's office on Saturday morning. A friend from team _PEPR_ told me." Nyanza said knowingly, hoping for a good story.

Upon hearing this I just lost it and began to laugh a lot. "Well Nyanza... It wasn't so much what I did as what the people I was visiting did." I replied cryptically.

Nyanza instantly put down his comic and began to listen intently. "Go on Simon: what happened?" Nyanza coaxed.

"Well picture this: Me and two of my old mercenary friends got drunk Friday night, so we're hung-over as fuck in the morning. Out of nowhere Goodwitch barges into their apartment to take me back to Beacon... Well my buddies begin flirting and making sexual advances upon Goodwitch." I replied between fits of laughter.

It took a moment for Nyanza to piece together what I'd said, but when he did he also broke into fits of laughter until he was red in the face and he had began coughing. "What? Someone flirting with Goodwitch? Wow those guys are either the biggest fools or the bravest blokes in history... how'd she take it?" Nyanza asked once he'd managed to regain composure.

"Well it ended with one of my mates coping a baseball bat in the balls. I haven't heard yet if he is ok." I replied, slightly more serious towards the end of that sentence.

Nyanza, not catching on to the concern for my friend just laughed even more "Wow! these guys sound like a lot of fun to be around... no wonder you ditched the team to go hangout with them. Much better than spending time with the dominatrix." He replied, using his now pet name/insult for Teal.

I shook my head at the other male in my team "One of these days... she will belt you again for calling her that, remember the beating she dealt out last time?" I asked, genuinely suspecting that Nyanza had a memory similar to Dory.

"Oh yeah... I remember her getting lucky with her whip and also getting very over-emotional about my methods." Nyanza replied with a smirk.

"I remember you nearly getting hanged and electrocuted simultaneously. I also remember you being a total asshole to Teal and I had to set you straight with some good ole fashioned fist fighting." I shot back with my memory of the event.

Nyanza frowned at me "Now, now... I was only a partial asshole, I did apologise remember?"

"Only because I punched you." I retorted with a chuckle.

By this time, Nyanza had been left speechless with how effortlessly I cut down his arguments and simply sat there stunned. I picked up my uniform and walked into the bathroom to get ready for class. Deciding to let Nyanza sit and think how quickly this conversation turned against him.

**Combat Demo:**

Today we were being given a _demonstration_ in combat: to be provided by Cardin and Jaune, in my opinion two of the most incompetent fighters in all of Beacon. I'd seen the other members of CRDL in fights for combat class and they far outclassed Cardin, however his larger size and bully attitude combined with their collective lack of spines have made them subservient to him and waited on his beck and call.

I turned to Nyanza "10 Lien that Cardin wins in less than 3 minutes." I said, holding out the card of Lien.

"I reckon Jaune lasts less than two minutes." Came the reply and a showing of his 10 Lien.

"Guys... you really should NOT be betting on matches!" Teal scolded us.

I turned to Teal and chuckled "We shouldn't... but we still are. Mind time keeping for us?" I asked. Teal scowled at me but reluctantly withdrew her scroll and activated the stopwatch app.

The match began and Jaune charged straight at the much larger and stronger Cardin. _'Stupid bloody idiot!'_ I thought as I watched Cardin swing his mace and smash Jaune right across the arena. But to his credit, Jaune got straight back up.. and like an idiot charged headlong back at Cardin. This time however ducking under Cardin's swing and slammed his shield into Cardin's face. Cardin was incensed, but not injured in the least by the weak and unsure strike. Cardin swung and landed a punch into Jaune's ribs who doubled over, wheezing. Cardin then swung his mace again and smashed Jaune in the ribs, once more sending him across the stage.

Jaune managed to stand back up again but this time was very winded and leaning on his sword while Cardin had his mace hefted over his shoulder, laughing mockingly. _'Yeah, like to see you laugh if you have to fight me 1v1 you prick.'_ I thought as I looked on at this horribly one-sided fight.

Jaune charged Cardin a 3rd time, this time swinging heavily with his long sword. Cardin dodged the strike with ease and swung his mace, hitting Jaune in the back and sending him flying for a 3rd time, this time the blond lost his shield.

Jaune used the momentum to roll out of his tumble and regain his footing, looking slightly dazed. For a 4th time, that blond, stubborn idiot charged headlong into an impossible fight. _'He kind of reminds me of myself when I was still a novice fighter... but I was 12 at the time.'_ I thought. Carding blocked Jaune's strike with the shaft of his mace, pushing back and beginning to overpower Jaune. I saw something being said between the two.

Then out of nowhere came a knee from Cardin, right into Jaune's groin... or his lower abdomen I couldn't tell which. I chuckled at the fact that Cardin seems to have stolen my technique of using dirty shots to gain victory. Cardin raised his mace above his head just before Miss Goodwitch called the match.

I looked to Teal and tapped my wrist, wordlessly asking for the match length. "2 minutes, 7 seconds." She whispered, a tone of disapproval evident as Nyanza shook his head and handed over his 10 Lien. I had not bothered listening to Glynda's speech: it was always the same routine of criticizing the loser and reminding us about the Vytal Festival's combat tournament... which I fully intended on winning, even if it meant using every dirty trick in the book.

I heard the lunch bell go off and I turned to leave, flanked by _SNST_ to head to the lunch hall.

"So what do you reckon my chances in the Vytal tournament?" Nyanza said, a cocky tone in his voice as we sat down to eat.

"Somewhere between slim and none. I'll rig the draw so you verse me and I shall beat you to a pulp." I answered immediately, not even looking up from my food.

"Go fuck yourself." Nyanza retorted.

"Nah... that's more your thing, seeing as you can't convince Teal to do it for you." I deadpanned, waiting for the furious responses from the pair with a big toothy grin across my face.

"SIMON! You disgusting fiend, that is entirely unprofessional for a pair of hunters to engage in those things." Teal snapped.

"Oh so if Nyanza wasn't your partner... you'd be all over him? It wouldn't be unprofessional if you weren't partners." Sienna said, backing me up, like a good partner. I looked to the dog Faunus and smirked happily that Sienna for once was joining in on the _SNST_ antics.

I saw Teal go red... not sure if from lust, rage or embarrassment though and Nyanza was now choking on his drink of grape soda.

Before anyone could respond I heard a cry of "Ow that hurts!" from another part of the lunch hall: I saw Velvet... sweet, innocent Velvet surrounded by CRDL and Cardin himself was pulling very hard on Velvet's sensitive rabbit ears. I looked over to Sienna who had also noticed the bullying and also the lack of response from other students. She was snarling and her dog like fangs bared. I knew exactly how I felt, if I had my weapons with me... I'd probably have killed all 4 of them now and here.

I breathed in and out, trying to calm myself down, it was working until I heard Sky Lark call Velvet a _freak_ and I saw Velvet walk away from them in tears.

"That's it... I'll wear the punishment, but I' am going to fucking ream those mongrels!" I said angrily as I stood up and began storming over to where CRDL was, my combat boots thundering down onto the ground which echoed throughout the hall, my aura was flaring blood red... the white gone completely. People began to turn and watch me heading across the hall... all ready to see my infamous anger and ruthless aggression unleashed upon the bullies that all hated, but dared not stand up to.

I got to the end of where teams _RWBY _and _JNPR _were having lunch when I felt someone grab my shoulder, I whirled around to see a furious looking Coco "This isn't your fight kid. She is my teammate and I' am her captain.. if anyone is going to sort them out, it shall be me, at a time and place of my choosing." She growled angrily, but also making it obvious that she had a plan.

"If you're so protective of her... where were you just then?" I shot back, just as angrily.

"I failed to protect her this time... and I'll wear that blame, even from you. But leave them to me... you should go make sure Velvet is ok, it might do you some good to go outside and calm down. You'll find her at the gondola in the north-eastern corner of the Beacon gardens." Coco replied, seeming much nicer to me now than she had been the first time I'd met her.

I breathed in and nodded, agreeing that making sure Velvet was ok was better than petty revenge. "Ok, I'll head there... I'll get those bastards later." I replied as I turned to the exit that Velvet had left from, taking a moment to briefly wave to _RWBY _and _JNPR_.

**Beacon Gardens, Simon's PoV:**

I strode through the gardens, I knew where Coco had directed me to, but I never really came this far into the gardens very much. I moved silently, allowing the sounds and smells of the flowers and the cooling shade of the trees to calm me down, I don't think Velvet would like to see me angry. I saw the gondola and in it I saw Velvet who was now rubbing her eyes, probably trying to make the tears go away.

I could feel the anger brewing up inside again, but overwhelming that was a feeling of sympathy, and of hurt at seeing someone I'd known for so long crying. I managed to get to the entrance of the gondola without Velvet noticing me, which was very worrying given how sensitive her hearing was. _'If Cardin has damaged Velvet's ears... I'll damn well slice him apart piece by piece.'_ I thought in a flash of anger before I quickly suppressed it.

I lightly rapped my knuckles on the wooden frame of the gondola to announce my presence to the bunny girl. Velvet looked up, slightly shocked that anyone but Coco would have found her here. "Simon, I, err... I should go." She said meekly as she stood to leave but I blocked be entrance.

"No Velvet, please sit... Coco told me where I could find you" I explained as I took a seat next to Velvet.

"Oh, Don't worry about what happened Simon. This isn't the first time I've been bullied, it really does not faze me much anymore, I' am used to it." Velvet explained, her voice not but a small whimper. I could feel my heart breaking as I heard her so close to breaking down.

"Velvet, you don't need to be used to it... People shouldn't judge or ridicule you at all because of your ears. I know I' am probably the last person who should ever be giving speeches about acceptance, but being a Faunus doesn't give people the right to bully you, especially when the ears are so adorable." I replied, trying to lighten the mood up a bit, even though my cheeks went redder than Ruby's cape as I made the admission.

I could see Velvet's face light up at the compliment and she lightly stroked her ears, unfortunately wincing as she touched them. I lost my smile instantly, but I didn't allow my anger to emerge. "They hurt your ears didn't they?" I asked, my voice as soft and as caring as I could make it.

"They are a little sore... but it is no worse than how I feel after a combat class." Velvet reply, a shaky, weak smile upon her face.

I sighed, I knew I was stupid for being so protective of my friend... She was a huntress and could probably easily kick my ass, but still a part of me would try to see her safe from all harm.

"Well, why not show CRDL how intense combat can be against a 2nd year team?" I asked, wondering if Velvet was a huntress, why she didn't defend herself against the bullies.

I saw Velvet look down towards the ground and she sighed "I made a promise to myself to never strike a person in anger or use violence against another person unless they are a direct threat to another's life. I made that promise the day after your parents were killed... after I'd thought you'd been killed. Needless violence had taken my dearest friend from me, so I promised to never use violence or force unless required to save a life. CRDL were no threat to my life so I didn't fight and beat them" came the explanation of Velvet's passiveness to bullies.

I nodded in understanding, it was an entirely reasonable explanation. "I guess I can't refute that reasoning. But still... those bullies will need to be taught a lesson, and I think Coco maybe giving it to them as we speak." I replied with a small chuckle as I tried to work out exactly what Coco had planned.

I saw Velvet physically flinch "I almost feel sorry for those guys if they need to deal with a ticked off Coco... almost" She laughed lightly.

I shrugged "I don't... I'll be sure to have some firm words with my neighbours later." I replied with a chuckle.

Velvet frowned at my remark but didn't comment, instead she looked out to the gardens and smiled at the flowers "I've always enjoyed spending time in gardens, just letting the world pass me by as I admired nature's beauty and think about life."

I looked out and noticed many beautiful flowers and plants. "I've seen a lot of different terrains in my time in Atlas, but I very rarely took the time to admire them... I was always too focused on other, less happy things to notice the lush forests or the snowy mountain peaks or the grassy glens I've seen in the Atlesian highlands and midlands, I barely even took note of the Schnee's well kept gardens... too busy, to preoccupied with other things." I replied, a tone of regret in my tone.

Velvet nodded understandingly and picked a random flower, a petunia and placed it behind my ear, now giggling like a little schoolgirl. "There, now you can carry a bit of nature with you to admire, not to mention you look so very pretty with that flower in your hair." The bunny girl giggled, her mood slowly improving after the assault of earlier.

The macho side of me wanted to rip out the flower from my head, however it was thankfully overridden by a very deep appreciation for something so simple... a gift, it had been so, so very long since anyone had given me a gift. _'I don't care how girlish this looks... this flower isn't leaving my hair for the rest of today!'_ I thought happily. "Thanks Velvy, I' am now the prettiest person in Beacon." I replied in a fake girly voice before I broke down in laughter.

Velvet couldn't help but burst out laughing "You never fail to improve my mood Simon... you never have." She said, still giggling as she leaned her head into my shoulder.

The simple contact sent my mind into overdrive and a million and one emotions and thoughts flooded it. I noted how soft and silky her hair is, how fluffy her ears were as they ran across the back of my head and neck. I felt my heartbeat quicken and my stomach doing somersaults. _'What is happening to me?!'_ I thought as I dealt with the sudden flood of unknown emotions. I looked across and saw how comfortable and content Velvet looked. I smiled, my cheeks scarlet but ever so slowly I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her slightly closer, I don't know why I did it but it just felt natural and the right thing to do.

I heard a sigh of contentment, yet also a hint of sadness from Velvet "It's moments like these that I cherish: just you and me ignoring the world. Thinking back: It was the games of tag and the piggy backs that I missed most while you were gone... just innocent kids in their innocent world without any troubles." I heard Velvet reminisce. I didn't want to speak, I was content just listening, so I just nodded in agreement.

"When you were up in Atlas: did you ever think about those you left behind? The gang and myself?" Came Velvet's next question, asked somewhat absentmindedly.

"I did a lot in the beginning, but I tried to push my old life out of my mind... it was tearing me apart being separated from the only home I really knew and it was easier to just push it out of my head than to deal with it." I replied, sniffing back a tear.

"I understand, I guess we all tried to do that as well. Tried to move on, but never forget about that bubbly kid who always was up to mischief, that's what we focused on: the happy memories." Velvet replied, nuzzling my shoulder slightly.

In the distance I could hear the bell signalling the end of lunch. _'Damned classes... couldn't wait 5 bloody minutes could they!'_ I thought frustrated as Velvet stood up to leave. "Hey, you got Oobleck with me next don't you?" I asked, remembering that Velvet and I shared a class.

"Yeah I do, Why?" came the questioning reply.

Smirking I stood in front of Velvet "Jump on, you said you missed my piggy backs."

Velvet Squealed with childish delight and jumped on my back, legs wrapped around my waist and arms around my neck. "Onward steed!" Velvet said happily as she pointed forward. And I obliged running towards the school, laughing like an innocent 12 year old again and completely ignoring the looks we got from people we past.

**A/N:** I have decided to split this chapter, mainly because I wanted to have a bit more of a light-hearted and feel good chapter given the events of this week to hopefully cheer everyone up.

I shall try to have part 2 done by the 10th so I can announce the winner of the Valentine's day fic poll. The story will be written up and released next weekend for Valentine's day.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. -CC signing off.


	33. Cardinal Sins part 2

**A/N:** Hi all, CC here with part 2 of the _Cardinal Sins _mini-arc. Not too much to say right now except that I promise that Simon shall get his turn at CRDL (poor guys haha, one does not simply piss off Simon and escape unharmed).

As a response to a question from a quest reviewer about the format of the dates I use: I use the **DD/MM/YY **format, which I understand maybe confusing for those who use **MM/DD/YY**. Thanks to the guest reviewer who brought this up so I could clarify. As always if you guys have any questions or don't understand something I write (e.g Australian slang terms) then feel free to ask me.

Also the poll for the Valentine's fic has closed and the final results are as follows:

**Blake: 7**  
Velvet: 6  
Weiss: 4  
Neo: 1  
Penny: 1  
Glynda: 1

Well I' am certainly going to have some fun with this ship for Valentine's day... Let's see how this turns out. I'd like to thank everyone for voting and I you will enjoy the SimonxBlake one-shot I write (even if you didn't vote for it).

Also, I do apologise for the short chapters I've been releasing recently and if the standard in my writing has dropped in the last 3-4 chapters: I've been working at least 60 hours per week (normally more) for the last month or so doing manual labour in my summer holiday and it leaves me little time or energy to write 8000 word chapters... however the good news is I go back to uni on the 21st February and as such I'll be able to write more than I have been so far in 2015 and hopefully the standard of my writing will also increase as I get more time to spend writing and I' am not so tired all the time.

**Chapter 33: Cardinal Sins Part 2. Oobleck's classroom, Simon's PoV:**

Giving Velvet a piggy back and hearing her laugh so carefree and actually hearing myself laugh so happily and innocently had been a lot of fun and it brought back a lot of fond memories of the 7 years that Velvet and her family had been my neighbours. Definitely worth the rumours that are certainly spreading like wildfire, even in Oobleck's class while we waited for the hyperactive and messy professor to arrive I could see several students shooting looks to Velvet and I as we took our seats together. I noted the glances but didn't even acknowledge them, I was just in too good of a mood...not even Nyanza could find a way to ruin this mood. I sneaked a glance just to my right to where Velvet was organising her note book, I blushed slightly and the knot in my stomach tightened as I admired the way her long brown hair shaped and complimented her face and her ears: adorable ears that unfortunately now drooped sadly due to the fact that Cardin was just to my left and a row back. My mind was working on getting back at Cardin, seeing as Coco hadn't yet gotten to it yet by the looks of his smug grin. _'Oh mate... I' am going to wipe that smug grin off your face one of these days.'_ I thought as the usual blur rushed of Dr Oobleck rushed passed me and to the podium.

"Good Morning class. Today we shall be moving on from the Great War and its aftermath and onto the _Faunus War_ which began 40 years ago and ended 34 years ago in the _Treaty of Austral_., I hope you all did your required readings or you shall struggle with this incredibly complex issue: The ramifications of which can be felt to this day." Oobleck began, pausing to take a sip of his coffee and then began the zipping around and almost unintelligible speech which came with his hyperactivity. So I set my scroll to record his speech for later translation and note taking, With that I leaned back in my chair and tried to anticipate Oobleck's movements so as to slow him down with my semblance if he ever came near me, just for shits and gigs.

The first couple times I did it: It went almost unnoticed, but after a few more times I began to hear giggles around the class as every so often Oobleck would move and speak in super slow motion, even if only for a second or two. At first Oobleck ignored the interruptions to his speed but after about the 5th time he stopped his lecture on the attempted peace conference on the Island of _Straltis _which ended in blood when two jumpy teenagers (1 from each side) accidentally shot each other and the incident escalated until the _Atlesian Military_ bombed the negotiation building into dust and then peppered it with cluster bombs for good measure after evacuating their delegation. "Mr Alexander... Seeing as you think you can goof off in this class instead of note taking. What event followed the _Straltis incident_?" Oobleck asked, obviously trying to make an example of me.

"That would be the _Battle of Brovinia_ in which Atlesian forces routed the Faunus rebels." I answered instantly, having been told about this already by Ty Kruger, who as a younger soldier had been at both events.

Oobleck wasn't even mad about this, instead he looked quite happy. "Correct Mr Alexander, it is good to see some here have read their readings." Oobleck commented happily before continuing zipping around giving his speech, this time without me slowing him down.

It was about half an hour in when while talking about the reasons behind the Faunus war (namely humanities disgusting idea of keeping Faunus in a shithole continent named _Menagerie_) Oobleck came out and asked the Faunus students if they'd been discriminated against due to their heritage. I looked right and saw Velvet looking very distressed as she reluctantly raised her hand. Seeing her look so upset brought seething anger to the fore or my mind and the urge to bludgeon Cardin became ever so tempting.

Turning to look his way I saw him flick an object into the back of a dozing Jaune's head, the jump he made caused him to be called upon by Oobleck to answer the simplest of questions about Faunus' sight. When Jaune failed miserably, Cardin was called upon and he responded "Well I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."

It was at this point that I saw red, I pushed my seat back... 100% done with this guy's shit today and I was going to bludgeon him into his desk. However before I could stand, I felt a smooth, soft hand clasp my own and Velvet dragged me back into my seat. "Simon, he isn't worth the trouble... just leave it and be the better man." She whispered into my ear. I clenched my teeth, but I sat back down before Oobleck noticed my movements.

"One of these days..." I growled under my breath, but that was followed by a small chuckle as Pyrrha and Blake shut down Cardin completely and made him look like the idiot he really was. _'No wonder the kitty is feisty today if that's how Cardin acts.'_ I thought in regards to Blake.

The rest of the class passed without incident and I walked out, keeping myself between Velvet and Cardin as we exited, while he and Jaune had to stay behind. It was the last class of the day so it was now free time for the students. I walked out next to Velvet to see Coco and the rest of Team CFVY talking to Sienna who had been the first person out of the classroom. "Hey Velvet, Simon." Sienna called over to us, waving us over. I shrugged and walked over with Velvet to the group of friends/teammates.

"So Sienna was just telling us of how she had seen her captain and partner at lunch piggybacking my teammate while giggling and laughing like 5 year olds, is there something between you two I should know about?" Coco asked with a snigger, a humoured smile upon her face.

"Just two old friends reliving old times." I replied, certainly not wanting to have a discussion about my personal life in public like this. Velvet nodded in agreement, though we were both blushing quite heavily.

"Riiiiight, I wonder if Nyanza would beg to differ when I tell him all about what I've seen in class tonight." Sienna said with a mischievous look upon her face, obviously enjoying the rare opportunity to embarrass me, given how secretive and reclusive I could be.

I looked horrified and everyone else was laughing. But eventually Coco stopped and looked suddenly serious, as if she'd just remembered something.. and I had a hunch what it was. "Velvet, why don't you and the others take Sienna for some tea and dumplings that Yatsuhashi makes, I' am sure she'd love it. Me and Simon have some _captain's business_ to attend to." Coco said commandingly. Fox and Yatsuhashi nodded and began guiding the pair of Faunus girls back to the CFVY dorm.

Coco then turned to me and she sighed, somewhat relieved. "Thanks Simon, for looking out for Velvet today, It's good to know there's someone else who cares about her as much as me. Now to business I've gotten back at three of the CRDL members: they're all worse for wear, but I decided that you deserved to satisfy your completely understandable anger at Cardin, Sienna told us what he said about Faunus in Oobleck's class... I' am not impressed that Ozpin allowed such discriminatory rabble into Beacon, but I guess it is up to us to ensure he leaves Velvet and the other Faunus alone once and for all."

I nodded, an evil smirk reminiscent of my days as a more cold-blooded killer emerged upon my lips "Just tell me where he is and I'll see to it that he learns his lesson." I replied... steeling myself for using some pain inflicting techniques I'd learnt from Lachlan during my time with _Rum Squad_. I really didn't like the idea of releasing the dark fury that still boiled inside me due to the things I'd done in the past when it had its hold on me...but Cardin needed to learn some respect.

Coco nodded flatly, she began walking towards the Beacon gyms with me in tow. I could feel her angry aura permeating the area around us, i could tell that Cardin had deeply upset Coco, which I found odd as I'd heard on the grapevine that she was even more vain than Yang was.

We arrived in the gym to see three bruised and battered CRDL members watching Cardin do weights. I let all my self-restraint go and I fully immersed myself in my rage for the first time in a very long time. "Cardin!" I called out as I strode heavily, my boots thundering on the ground as I covered the ground quickly. The other members of CRDL cowered at the sight of a pissed off Coco who chased them away from their leader.

Before Cardin could get up I was upon him and I pushed him onto the bench and forced the bar (which was weighted to 80kgs, my entire body weight) down on his throat, causing the CRDL captain to begin to choke as I pushed harder, not trying to kill... just to frighten. "You listen to me and you listen well mate... you're going to treat Velvet, Sienna and every other Faunus in this school with respect dignity. Your comments in Oobleck's class are a disgrace to humanity and you don't deserve the title _Huntsman_." I snarled, as Cardin's face began turning blue.

"Please... let go, I-I ca-n't breathe." The bully gasped as the 80kg bar was slowly pressing further onto his throat, regardless of how hard he pushed back. I pushed harder for just a moment but then released the pressure and hauled the bar back onto the holder.

I grabbed Cardin by the scruff of his neck and threw him into a nearby wall "I' am serious Cardin, I ever hear of you bullying another Faunus... I'll take your right pinkie finger. If I hear it happening again after that I'll take another finger... and the cycle will continue until you run out of fingers or you learn your lesson, got it fuckstick." I growled quietly so only a terrified Cardin could hear. He frantically nodded and whimpered like a whipped dog.

I threw him down onto the ground and fiercely glared to the other students in the gym. "No one here saw or heard anything... right?" I Asked threateningly. Everyone nodded in agreement and went about their workouts as if nothing had happened. Then as if I'd snapped from a trance I blinked a couple of times and the anger, the evil within me was bottled back up and forced back to the deepest, darkest corner of my consciousness. As Cardin and his cronies ran frantically from the gym I turned to Coco who looked quite alarmed. "I'll explain on the way back to the CFVY dorm, I probably should save your teammates from Sienna." I said emotionlessly as I strode from the gym, feeling the familiar emptiness that had been plaguing me since that night I got jumped by Levi.

As we walked down the halls Coco stepped in front of me and eyed me wearily. "What happened in there Simon, it's like you became a completely different person... and honestly that worries me, especially with all the time you spend around Velvet. I'd hate to see any harm come to her because of you." Coco said protectively of her Faunus teammate.

I sighed "Coco, what you saw in there is the remnants of what I once was... a cold, heartless thing who had a natural ability for doing a great number of unsavoury things with a zealous hatred and infinite anger, such is the life of a mercenary in Atlas' far north. But apart from rare moments like that... I haven't been that thing for nearly 2 years. As for your understandable fear for your friend and teammate: You needn't worry, Velvet has a calming effect on me, I can't help but be calm and happy when she's around and that buried part of me just disappears." I replied, just wanting this subject to be dropped lest I accidentally let slip about the _Fist _and the various people I'd tortured during those months assisting Lachlan with any prisoners we brought back to camp.

Coco looked at me suspiciously "Ok, if you say so... but I'am warning you: Hurt my teammate and you'll spend the rest of your life sucking your meals through a straw, got it?" Coco warned. I had to admit, Coco was very feisty, but I didn't fear her... for I knew I'd never in my life hurt Velvet.

We walked in silence until we reached the 2nd year dorms... a bit larger than the 1st year ones. Inside I saw FVY and Sienna enjoying some tea as Fox and Sienna told stories while Velvet and Yatsuhashi listened on, the big guy and Velvet certainly weren't the most talkative of people. Fox on the other hand was quite talkative and sociable and very confident... which spoke volumes of him and his self confidence considering he had not sense of sight. Velvet eyed Coco and I suspiciously as we entered the dorm.

"So, what was this _secret captains business_ you two needed to attend to?" Sienna asked with a knowing tone, having seen how agitated I was in class.

"It's secret and it's for captains. So I can't tell you or I'd have to kill you." I replied jokingly, though no one else seemed to be laughing. Instead everyone looked at me awkwardly. I raised an eyebrow "What, you guys never heard that expression before?" I asked

"Well yeah I have... but just never from a person who has openly admitted they've killed people before." Sienna replied.

I merely shrugged "So, does that not make the joke any less funny?" I asked, and judging by the looks I got, the answer was _yes_.

"Well It's been good meeting and getting to know you guys, but I think Simon and I need to return to our own dorm." Sienna spoke as she stood and bade her farewells to Team CFVY. I sent a smile Velvet's way which she returned with one of her own. I spun on my heel and walked out the door, Sienna following me out.

"Something tells me our neighbours will be a little worse for wear today." Sienna said happily.

"Yeah... unfortunate gym accidents." I replied with a knowing smirk.

"Good, they deserved what they got, especially Cardin." Sienna growled, obviously hurt by his comments in Oobleck's class.

"I could have sworn I was listening to myself speak just then Sienna. Bit too spiteful to really be you." I replied, concerned genuinely for my teammate. _'Guess I' am slowly learning empathy.'_ I thought surprised that I was concerned for the puppy Faunus beside me.

"Hmm, nah... not enough violence or anger in what I said to really be you." Sienna shot straight back, but without malice or intent to hurt.

"I' am trying to get that all under control... but CRDL was a special case that needed a special solution." I replied as I strode confidently through the halls.

"Do I even want to know what you did to them?" Sienna questioned as we came close to our dorm, to see CRDL scramble into theirs to avoid me.

"You probably will hear various rumours... mostly involving an 80kg bench press gone wrong around the school in coming days." I answered cryptically.

Sienna nodded and opened the door to our dorm but I remained outside, Sienna turned to me "You not coming in?"

I shook my head "Nah, I might head up to the roof. I got a few things on my mind." I replied as I turned to head up stairs.

"What, like your crush on Velvet?" Sienna giggled, taking every opportunity to tease me.

"You're enjoying this way too much." I replied, hiding my blush.

"Only because before now there was nothing we could really tease you about... Oh Nyanza and Teal are going to love this." Sienna giggled evilly.

I shrugged, trying to look disinterested "Meh, doesn't matter... the piggyback was totally worth it." I replied and with that I walked off.

Once I'd made it to the roof I leant out on the railings I ran the scene with Cardin back over my mind, and it honestly scared me a little how easily I could slip back into the frame of mind I had when I was in the _Black Fist_. First with Blake during our fight, then on the highway with Gregory (though that one more was the addictive adrenaline rush more than my anger and undiluted hatred) and now here with Cardin. _'What if Coco is right... what if I do lose control one day?'_ I thought.

I sighed and leaned back on the rails, where interestingly I could see Pyrrha and Jaune on a different part of the dorm rooftop, well away from me. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Pyrrha looked quite upset and Jaune looked very defensive and guilty looking. Now I was no idiot and I knew Pyrrha had a crush on Jaune _'Maybe she confessed those feelings and he rejected her for the 0.000000000000000000000000001% chance he has with Weiss, now that would make for some interesting mealtime conversations at the RWBY/JNPR table.'_ I thought as I watched Pyrrha walk away, only for Cardin to climb up the side of the building and jump up to the roof with Jaune.

I watched Cardin act all buddy, buddy with the blond knight. This puzzled me as every interaction between the pair since the tag team match of Cardin/Jaune v Weiss/Myself had been of Cardin bullying Jaune mercilessly. _'Well, what do we have here? Maybe Cardin Blackmailing Jaune for something? Maybe a promise to help him be a more desirable man... wait that doesn't make sense, no woman in their right mind would touch Cardin with a 10m pole.'_ I thought with a chuckle as I continued to watch from afar this exchange.

I considered making my presence known and helping Jaune out... but decided against it for several reasons: mainly due to the fact that Jaune needed to learn to fight bullies on his lonesome, to fight his own battles or how could he be trusted with the lives of JNPR. And also the fact that if Cardin was too busy tormenting Jaune, it meant that Velvet, Sienna and the other Faunus were out of the firing line. _'Sorry Jaune... you'll just have to take the bullet for the greater good.'_ I thought as I turned to leave the roof top and the now subservient Jaune.

**A/N:** I hope you all enjoyed this chapter... once again I apologise for not having chapters of my usual length and quality but I' am so short on time and energy at this point in time.

I appreciate all feedback: If you like something or think there is an area I could improve my writing, then feel free to let me know through reviews or PMs... I' am always looking for ways to become a better writer.

I also adore the ideas for events or interactions that some of you guys give me... it makes writing so much fun when you're able to bring to life an idea or prompt that a reader has given me (e.g the snipers meeting Glynda, or the combat class matches: which BTW I' am still accepting requests for, the next one of which will be seen in the next chapter after the Valentine's Day Special) and I always try to write in the ideas that you guys give me, it may not happen right away but I do fit them in where I can. -CC signing off.


	34. -INTERMISSION- Valentines Day Special

**A/N: **First up I'd like to remind you all that this isn't a part of the FHTH canon (yes that is a thing now haha). It is just a bit of fluffy fun that was decided upon by you guys. I'd like to thank **Tommy2486** for giving me an idea for the plot of this one-shot.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the fluff in _From Hunted to Hunter: Valentine's special._ -CC Signing on.

**-INTERMISSION- Valentine's Special Chapter. Simon's PoV (February 13th, 2nd year at Beacon):**

It was a warm February morning, I swear I'll never get used to the seasons here again after spending 5 years in Atlas where it was Winter this time of year. I marched grumpily and intimidatingly through the halls of Beacon in my combat gear, my weapon's blades which were freshly polished and shined glistened menacingly in the light. As I trudged, I observed something I'd really wish I hadn't: People hanging red hearts on the halls or images of a cupid with its bow. _'Valentine's Day? Really... are these people like 5?!.'_ I thought grumpily to myself as I continued down the halls towards the mess halls. That is until I was hit by a speeding blur of red that had rose petals trailing behind it.

I had gone flying across the hall and being embedded into a locker and Ruby was sprawled out in front of me, cradling a box of chocolates protectively. The hooded teenager looked pale as she saw who'd she hit "Oh my, Simon I' am Sooooooooooooooo sorry." She said frantically as she darted over to me and helped me up.

"It's ok Ruby... Compared to being hit by Nora in the skull that one time last year when I pissed her off, this is actually not really that painful" I replied with a false smile, hiding the fact that I think I'd cracked a rib in the collision.

Ruby looked unconvinced but nonetheless smiled happily, back to her usual dolty self. "So Simon, you got a Valentine in mind?" She asked, still smiling widely.

I raised an eyebrow "No, I've not got the time for such trivial things such as dating." I replied in a flat monotone, though inside I was hurting that such an innocent question had dredged up painful memories: dating Velvet had been good while it lasted... but I just didn't have the emotional or psychological stability to keep a relationship working and it all fell apart 2 months ago, leading to the usual flood of awkwardness towards each other and open hostility from each other's friends (especially Coco.)

Ruby must have realised the subject she'd touched and her smile fell "Sorry Simon, I didn't mean to bring it up." She apologised and rested a hand on my shoulder.

"It doesn't matter... don't let that spoil your mood, so are those chocolates for a certain irate Heiress?" I asked in reference to Weiss, whose old bitter, unfriendly habits I'd been picking up as of late.

Ruby blushed the same shade as her ever present hood "Yeah... these are her favourites, I' am taking her out to the gardens for a picnic date and this was the finishing touch." Ruby rambled on happily. I just listened and let a false smile creep upon my face. _'You better not lose this girl Weiss, you'll never find another one like her'_ I thought, approvingly of my best friend's choice of romantic partner.

"Well you should go find her instead of just rambling about your plans to me, put them into action." I said, hinting that this conversation was now over and I was leaving.

Ruby probably didn't take the hint as I meant it, instead only wanting to see her beloved Weiss "Ok, good idea... oh she is just going to love this!" Ruby said happily as she dashed off, leaving me to go about my business of getting my lunch.

I got to within sight of the meal hall when in front of me a figure blocked my path: a sunglasses and beret wearing girl who looked infinitely pissed off. _'Oh fuck... here we fucking go'_ I thought as I knew by the angry look on Coco's face that this was going to end in violence.

"Well Simon, I told you that you couldn't avoid me forever and Velvet isn't here to talk me down this time... you, me, combat room, NOW!" She ordered, her hand stroking her weaponised handbag.

"Coco, I' am not going to fight you. The split is what was best for Velvet, I can't expect her to put up with the emotional baggage that comes with me." I replied, trying to avoid having to fight the feisty girl.

"Doesn't matter... you broke her heart, so now... I break you." She said as she grabbed the scruff of my neck and pulled me away from the cafeteria and towards the combat rooms.

**Combat Room, 10 minutes later. Blake's PoV:**

I had been sitting in the combat rooms reading a book and watching Yang fight a bunch of other students in a challenge she had set up, that challenge being: _Be the first person (boy or girl) to beat Yang in a fight to win a Valentines date._ I swear that girl was incorrigible, I knew she planned to beat everyone until I got bored and challenged her and then she'd let me win and she'd take me out... all these fights were just a work out for that busty blonde. I looked at my scroll and saw it was coming close to lunch and then I looked back to my book _'hmm I think I'll finish this chapter then go and whip Yang's ass, put the poor girl out of her misery thinking I won't take her bait.'_ I thought as I raised the book to continue reading.

I had finished maybe a page or two when I saw the doors to the arena open and in stormed a very irate looking Coco, dragging behind her an equally angry Simon Alexander. Yang had just finished demolishing Dove Bronzewing (ugh I can't believe he actually thought he could win) when Coco marched onto the arena floor and literally shoved Yang off to the side before pushing Simon back to the far side of the arena. Everyone else cleared back to the bleachers as the protective barriers went up, sealing the two inside and no one outside could hear what the two were saying.

Yang came up and sat with me, looking perplexed and annoyed "Dammit, I was just having fun there and getting warmed up for our fight kitty cat." She said flirtatiously. I just rolled my eyes at my blonde friend.

"Well Coco has been threatening to fight Simon ever since he and Velvet split, guess her anger just boiled over and she dragged him over here. Poor guy: he tried so hard to make it work but he just couldn't learn to live with and control his anger." I replied sympathetically and Yang nodded in agreement.

no one knew exactly what happened to cause the split... Simon and Velvet wouldn't tell and nor would their teams as they closed ranks around their respective friends. So it had just become a general assumption that Simon had lost control of the rage and the hatred that lived within him. Simon was secretive by nature and he had yet to tell all but his team, Weiss and Velvet exactly what he'd done in the _Highlands War_, As much as I was curious as to exactly what battles and skirmishes he partook in while up there. I also understood the need to keep some parts of one's past a secret... I haven't told anyone, not even Yang some of the darker, more violent things I had done while in the _White Fang_. As I thought about the similarities between Simon and I, I turned to watch the arena where Coco had finally finished abusing Simon and changed her handbag into its Gatling gun mode and Simon had drawn his gun staff, both shaping up for violence.

"What do you think Blake: Simon or Coco?" Yang said, part excited to see two of Beacon's top fighters go against each other and part apprehensive for the outcome given that these two are also two of Beacon's most hot-headed students.

"Honestly I hope Coco calms down and let's Simon leave... you can see in his body language that this isn't a fight he wants to be in." I replied flatly.

Yang nodded and I turned back to the arena, just in time to see both fighters open up with their ranged weapons...

**Third Person PoV:**

Simon had his weapon out and ready, but didn't open fire when Coco unleashed a hail of her over-powered dust rounds, instead he rolled away and kept _Umbra Vigilans_ ready to fire but not aimed directly at Coco.

"Coco, for fuck sakes... this isn't your business, so calm down and back the hell off, Velvet wouldn't like this!" He yelled, but the only response from Coco was more hellfire which Simon continued to dodge.

"NEVER EVER mention her name Simon, fight me you psychotic piece of trash!" Coco taunted Simon who didn't give any reaction except to circle the arena, still not willing to fully engage Coco and doing his best to not let his emotions cloud his rationality.

Blake looked on with confusion _'This is unlike Simon... he is never this passive, he has always been aggressive in combat.'_ The Faunus girl thought as Simon continued to dodge, occasionally lobbing non-lethal smoke or flash-bang grenades to disorient and confuse the angry Coco.

Within the sealed dome Coco had had enough of her enemies dodging. "Simon you coward... FIGHT ME! Come on! Hit me, hurt me... just like you hurt everyone else around you, including Velvet!" She spat in pure contempt.

Simon skidded to a stop and stormed right up into Coco's face "That isn't what happened and you damn well know that you bitch." Simon growled, all rational thought and decision making beginning to disappear, being replaced by raw emotion as he was accused of hurting Velvet.

As soon as Simon had finished speaking he let fly with a sweeping kick at Coco's knees. The sassy 3rd year jumped the kick and retaliated by swinging her handbag down as hard as she could at Simon's skull. Simon used his semblance to slow Coco's strike down and give him time to readjust himself to avoid the strike and land a hit with his staff to the side of Coco's head. The strike with the metallic staff rather than the blades sent Coco flying across the arena while Simon vaulted back to the far side to wait for Coco to get back up.

Blake looked at Simon's body language: it wasn't focused nor was it angry. Simon was instead distracted and very sad. Blake couldn't help but feel a bit of heartache as she looked down at the scared young man fighting in front of her, Her and Simon had never been close and Simon for the most part remained very standoffish and sometimes hostile to her at times, but they had worked well together when required to and Blake emphasised with Simon, given that both of them had been forced to be child soldiers.

Down in the arena Coco got up, seething anger even more than before "Oh, you think you're so clever, getting one up on me like that... a cheap trick of your semblance." She said as she switched her weapon back to its Gatling gun mode and fired more of the extremely over-powered rounds at Simon who this time Jumped up and above the fire, only for Coco to have anticipated his movements and corrected the firing line of her weapon to hit Simon square in the torso. The force of the impact of several rounds drained Simon's Aura straight down into the red and the arena's protective barriers dropped, but there was no teacher here to stop Coco from wanting to continue the savagery that was this fight-turned-beat down. As Simon tried to raise himself up off the ground using his gun staff as a support, Coco kicked the staff out of Simon's hands and then smacked Simon in the top of the head with her handbag, all but knocking out the young staff wielder.

Everyone saw Coco going completely off the rails and could quite possibly kill the defenceless Simon, but only Blake acted. The raven haired Faunus ran a quick as she could and shoved Coco out of the way before the chocolate themed girl could land a kill blow (though Coco had already landed a savage kick to Simon's groin which would certainly hurt despite the fact he wore armour there.)

"Back off you black-haired bitch!" Coco screamed furiously at Blake, but the cat Faunus didn't budge... she may not have been too close to Simon, but she wasn't going to sit back and watch someone get bludgeoned to death who didn't deserve it.

"If you won't move away from this piece of crap... I'll take you down to!" Coco fumed as she swung her bag, only to make contact with a shadow clone of Blake, who had dodged and bounced back with a kick straight to Coco's face.

"Calm down Coco... jeez you're worse than Yang when someone messes with her hair." Blake quipped.

"HEY, I resent the comment!" Yang could be heard calling out from the bleachers.

Ignoring the Blonde, Blake continued to stare Coco down, but before either of them could lunge in an attack, a wall of rock formed between them and Velvet could be seen: manipulating dust with her hands to form it. "Both of you back off... Coco, I told you NOT to pursue this vendetta with Simon!" Velvet said in a commanding voice that not many knew she possessed.

Simon was still writhing on the ground in pain, but Velvet couldn't bring herself to look at the boy whose obsession with secrecy had caused all this enmity amongst so many students and had nearly cost Velvet her life.

Coco looked at Velvet angrily and finally relented to her friend and pushing past Blake to deliver one more cheap shot to Simon's groin turned and walked away, Team CFVY following behind her. Simon could be heard grunting as he stubbornly forced himself to his feet, trying to save what little pride he had left after that beating but he was very groggy and wobbled on his feet as he shuffled gingerly over to where is staff was. Blake looked over to Simon, who was rejecting angrily any and all offers of assistance.

"Well I think his ego has taken a battering, but I think his stubbornness, unhappy attitude all got a big boost after this." Yang said, looking at just how fiercely Simon rejected help.

Blake nodded in agreement as she watched Simon lean against his gun staff and hobble out of the combat room using it as a support, gritting his teeth and forcing himself forward despite the pain. Blake honestly had to admire that Simon just wouldn't stay down and would keep on fighting... She'd seen it during the breach of Vale's defences and how he'd often come back after weekends beaten and bruised (though he would never say what he had been doing to acquire said wounds). As Simon disappeared out the main combat room doors Yang gave Blake a light shove in the shoulder.

"Ok Kitty cat, time for us to fight" Yang said with a flirtatious tone and a wink.

But Blake was still staring out the door, an overwhelming urge to chase after the injured staff wielder and make sure he was ok had crept into her head and her heart and without a single word to her flirtatious partner ran out of the combat arena, leaving Yang stunned at being ditched.

Blake found Simon less than 100m from the combat rooms, he still was using his gun staff as a support, his aura was too low to heal the various injuries that Coco had inflicted, not to mention the fact the boy was probably exhausted. Blake walked casually up beside Simon who didn't even acknowledge the presence of the Faunus, instead just continued to keep moving forward. So Blake just kept walking silently beside the young huntsman, a hand on his shoulder to support him and be ready to help him should his strength fail him.

Eventually the pair found their way to the edge of the cliffs where initiation took place, there was a bench there and Simon all but collapsed onto it, his gun staff tumbling to the ground but its owner didn't bother trying to pick it up. Blake sat beside Simon, not sure why she was here or what she should do now that they were out here. Simon turned to face Blake, his face still set in a scowl, but it wasn't seemed more forced now than it had been for the last few months.

"Thank-you for saving me back there, I' am fairly sure Coco would have ended me if you hadn't intervened." Simon finally said, sounding more soft and appreciative and less hostile than he'd ever been while talking to Blake.

Blake was surprised to hear such appreciation and soft-spoken from Simon who was usually blunt and crude in his speech. "Don't mention it, but I do wonder... why Coco is so angry at you? Must have been very serious what happened." Blake stated as a fact.

Simon's face hardened at the questioning, but eventually he sighed, his face relaxing but still showing deep frown lines around his forehead and eyes. The 18 year old looked more like a 30 year old he'd aged that much. "I let my guard down too much around Velvet. We'd gone on a date during the summer break and we'd been ambushed by some people who had a grudge against me... a fight ensued and Velvet was hit by a Aura Penetrating Round in her right lung. Doctors managed to save her but I made a decision then and there to end our relationship, to protect Velvet. Coco rightfully blames me for Velvet getting hurt, and that led up to the events of today." Simon explained and Blake felt extreme pity and empathy towards Simon, but also hurt when thinking back to the fact that she to is a hunted person and similarly can't form emotional bonds to people.

"I know how you feel Simon, I really do." Blake replied as she sadly looked out over the Beacon cliffs.

Simon looked over in confusion at Blake "Someone from the _Fang _hunting you?" Simon asked knowingly. Blake however looked shocked that he knew that particular secret. "Weiss holds no secrets from me." Simon explained in a half truth.

Blake nodded, deciding to let it slide for now. "Yes, my mentor: Adam, he knows I' am in Vale, and he doesn't take to Faunus leaving the _White Fang_ or being sympathetic or friendly to humans very well... I was his protégé and if he were to find me, or even worse: find someone I cared about." Blake said, exposing the hole in her heart and explaining her apparent lack of compassion and the fact she was about the only girl in Beacon not to have had at least one relationship in their time here (much to the consternation of Yang).

"I've seen the things the _Fang _do to their deserters... It isn't pretty." Simon replied with a sigh before changing subject "So, what was Yang doing in the combat room, thought she'd be trying to get you out to dinner with her." Simon teased with a weak chuckle as his aura began to replenish and heal his wounds. Yang's infatuation with the cat Faunus was well documented around Beacon.

Blake eyed the boy off in annoyance before giving a small smile of her own "Her beating up other students was her idea to get me to go on a date with her. Whoever beat her in a fight would be her Valentine, she'd keep beating people up till I fought her and I assumed she'd let me win so she could claim her prize of a date with me." Blake explained, laughing slightly at just how hilariously stupid the plan was.

Simon took a moment to process the blonde brawler's method of romance before bursting out in uncontrollable laughter. "Wow, that sounds like something a barbarian would do." He managed to squeeze out between his laughter. Blake couldn't help but laugh more, Simon's laughter was just infectious and his smile, Blake had to admit was very cute.

Simon was thinking something similar: how Blake's smile and the way her face lit up as she laughed through to her golden feline eyes and the way her silky black hair shaped her face. Simon noticed Blake blushing and only then realised just how much he too was blushing. "Umm Sooo, it's a lovely view from here... well when we're not about to get catapulted off the damned thing aye?" Simon said, quickly turning and looking out over the cliff.

"From what I remember you cursed Ozpin's existence as you were catapulted off." Blake giggled, remembering how much Simon hated anything to do with flying or heights.

Simon had by now forgotten his anger, but was still very sore and began wheezing as his injured ribs began flaring up in pain. Blake quickly shuffled across and rubbed Simon's back "You really should go to the nurse's station." Blake said worriedly.

But Simon merely shook his head "And ruin this lovely moment... not a chance." Simon replied in a tone that Blake couldn't tell if it was flirtatious or being a smartass. But Blake did have to agree that it was a nice moment of peace to be out here with someone who she had more in common with than she did most people, Blake was lost in the moment and leaned down into Simon's shoulder.

Simon flinched at the movement and the contact, having not expected this completely random and weird turn of events, but he had to admit it felt nice to have Blake leaned against his shoulder and he slowly relaxed and let his guard down and slid an arm around Blake's neck lightly stroking her hair. "Hey Blake, what are you doing tomorrow? If you don't have any plans we could head into Vale and grab a bite to eat?" Simon asked absentmindedly, not even registering with himself that he'd asked the question until after he'd spoken... it had been complete subconscious instinct taking control.

Blake flicked her eyes to look at Simon, she stuttered for a bit "Di-did you just ask me on a date? On Valentines day?" Came the nervous question, Blake's eyes studying Simon to see if he was sincere, not wanting to be toyed around with emotionally.

Simon cursed his subconscious but decided to run with this, it beat being alone tomorrow. "Sure, I mean if there's no problem with that on your part. We're both hunted people... so there's no fear of the other getting hurt because of one's past." He offered, trying to make light of their shared predicaments and fears for those close to them.

Blake thought about it, there were so many reasons to say no to this... but 1 voice in her head screamed yes louder than all the reasons to say _no_. _'Oh what's the worst that can happen... he is a decent enough guy, let's see where this leads to.'_ The Faunus girl thought to herself before smiling, leaning up and planting a light peck on Simon's lips. The boy sat there stunned for a moment, shocked at how forward Blake could be but nonetheless he leaned in and returned the display of affection.

Once the pair had separated from the kiss Simon smiled an infectiously happy smile "Well I'll meet you say noon in Vale at the Airship dock, just dress casually... I've worn enough suits up in Atlas to last me a life time" He said, giddy with excitement.

Blake nodded, a small smile upon her face as she nodded in agreement and leant back onto Simon's shoulder, and that's how they stayed until well after dark, just talking about small snippets of their lives (the parts that weren't shrouded in mysterious secrecy.) Both Teams RWBY and SNST were perplexed when Blake and Simon returned to their respective dorms both buzzing with an eager energy that neither really were known for.

**The Next Day, Noon. Vale Airport, Third Person PoV:**

Blake arrived at the Airport as she'd been instructed, in her casual attire and fully armed. Blake instantly spotted Simon across the road, who was also armed and next to a car that looked to be an armoured SUV used mostly by _Vale Intelligence_. Walking over, her guard up due to the appearance of the SUV with tinted out windows.

"Ahh Blake, you made it... Please relax, there's nothing to fear here. Just a favour called in from an old friend to ensure we're rolling in style." Came his humoured response to Blake's uncertainty and guardedness.

"Umm ok, so Where to?" Blake asked as she jumped into the back seat of the SUV and noticed a wrapped package and a bunch of black flowers.

Simon jumped into the back seat next to Blake and tapped the driver (whom Blake could see a tattoo saying _C-9_ on his neck) on the shoulder who began driving. "Well lunch and movies was my plan... I know a good place down by the North-western Beaches that do lovely meals."Came Simon's reply as the car sped through the streets of Vale.

"It sounds lovely, I just hope our weapons won't be needed... that really would spoil a lovely day such as this." Blake replied as she picked up the package, she instantly recognised the shape and feel of a book in it. Simon smiled on as Blake opened it do find a lovely hardback book.

"I asked Weiss what sort of books you liked... I decided to get you a nice romance novel rather than a slightly more lewd such as the new _Ninjas of Love_ book... you might get the wrong idea of my intentions if I got you that." Simon explained with a chuckle.

Blake wanted to look annoyed that Weiss had spilled her secret love for pornographic literature to Simon, but the joke he'd made just made her giggle too much to be angry. Instead she leaned into Simon's shoulder again and the two chatted casually, sharing many playful kisses as the driver took them towards the beaches.

Today would be the first of many dates between two damaged teens and no more would they walk in fear that one day their past demons may catch up and hurt the ones they love, for both Blake and Simon were hunted and they both were vigilant and on guard to protect themselves and each other from whatever meant their lover harm. Both took solace in each other's affections... neither would be lonely anymore and look on at happy couples wishing that they could have someone special. Together no enemy or past demon could touch or harm_ Vales most hunted couple._

**A/N: **Sorry for the slight lateness of uploading... but this really was quite a difficult ship for me to write haha :P I hope you all enjoyed what I came up with in response to my readers voting for this ship and I also hope you all had a lovely Valentines Day regardless of where you are or whether or not you had a date for the day.

Next chapter will be back to the regular FHTH plot and that should be out in a week or so. Remember to follow and/or favourite if you like the story and feel free to leave any feedback you have for me in a review or PM -CC Signing off.


	35. Letting Off Steam

**A/N:** 3 milestones were met after the last chapter was posted: 100+ reviews, 50+ followers and 17,500+ views on _From Hunted to Hunter_, It always makes my day to see more people taking an interest in this story, it motivates me greatly to write.

In response to a guest review on the last chapter: In the _Valentine's Special_: Blake doesn't know about Simon's part in her Father's death... I didn't want to address that issue in that chapter when I haven't dealt with it in the main FHTH plot, it would be a bit of a spoiler, so I just side stepped the issue for that Valentine's chapter for plot reasons... Ignorance is Bliss they always say haha.

I'm sorry I haven't posted in nearly a month, but I've had some very severe writers block as of late and with uni beginning for the year, I can run short of time quite easily. This chapter is more expanding on some things that people have asked me about in PM's and reviews rather than moving forward very much plot-wise, that shall be the next chapter. -CC Signing on.

**Chapter 34: Letting Off Steam. Friday Week 6, Simon's PoV:**

In the last several days, I'd thankfully not seen Cardin even look threateningly at Velvet or another Faunus, this made me feel a great relief inside me, for once I'd done something to protect Faunus and make their lives easier rather than to kill, maim or harm them as I had for so long. Also to be able to vent my pent up anger and frustration at Velvet's appalling treatment at the hands of CRDL had allowed me to relax considerably. Thinking back I probably should feel bad for Jaune, I'd seen him waiting on CRDL hand and foot: fetching them meals, I'd seen him cleaning their dorm and doing their note taking in class... but I didn't feel bad whatsoever as Jaune's pain was allowing Beacon's Faunus students some breathing room to live in peace.

It was a good day for two other reasons as well... I get my Gun Staff back today at combat class and I'd received a text from the weapons shop telling me that my customised MX-20 sniper had arrived. _'Today is going to be a good day'_ I thought as I walked into the mess hall to see teams SNST, RWBY &amp; JNPR (minus Jaune) all sitting together and laughing, even Weiss was joining in on this, though she was trying hard to suppress her laughter. I was suspicious of what was causing such raucous laughter as I drew near to the table I saw the laughter immediately stop and I noticed Yang slide closer to a nervous looking Blake, the blonde looking very protective looking very protective, though everyone else was still suppressing giggles. I sat down next to Sienna, across from Team RWBY.

"Ok, what's so funny that even _Snowflake_ is giggling like a 10 year old?" I asked with genuine curiosity.

"Ummm... a funny joke that Nyanza told us?" Sienna replied sheepishly. I just raised an eyebrow as I sat down next to a still giggling Weiss and Sienna.

"Ummm no, I think Nyanza has nothing to do with why you guys are laughing or you wouldn't have stopped as I arrived." I replied knowingly as I looked around the table, eventually setting my eyes on Ruby who had gone red as her cloak from laughter and/or embarrassment. "So Ruby, what was so funny? I can see you're just bursting with laughter from whatever was said." I enquired in my most disarming and friendly tone.

Ruby looked away shyly, however she eventually turned back and handed her scroll to me. Looking at it I couldn't help but smile: someone had captured a video of me piggybacking Velvet. Ruby and the others upon seeing me smiling like an idiot all broke out in laughs and giggles once more.

"Yo Simon: Every shred of intimidation you possess just disappeared when that clip got sent across the rest of the school. Never knew you had such a soft side!" Nyanza said as he laughed.

Weiss looked over at me, a small smirk on her face. "I must admit, you do look a lot less scary when you actually smile for something other than violence." She said, her tone meaning her comment as a compliment.

"Meh, so what if I've mellowed out a bit. I can still be plenty intimidatingly terrifying when the situation calls for it. As I' am sure Team CRDL can attest to." I replied as I effortlessly and instantly changed my look from a happy face to my most intimidating scowl, making sure the light highlighted my facial scars.

Everyone visibly cringed and Ruby even looked slightly afraid as she buried her head in Yang's shoulder. Yang sent me a death stare, her eyes tinging red again. I took the warning and relaxed back to a neutral expression. "Well now that I seem to have spoiled the happy mood... I think it only right that I restore it. During the first few days and weeks at Beacon I captured some rather entertaining clips." I said in a devious tone as I withdrew my scroll and sent a message to everyone at the table. I sat back and relaxed as everyone opened up their scrolls to find a video clip of Ruby and Weiss' first meeting which ended in flames (quite literally) and the clip of Weiss and Yang rolling around the halls in their PJs.

I watched and waited for the various reactions from the three teams: Ruby seemed to be embarrassed by seeing her explode once more. Yang was laughing at everything she saw. Pyrrha and Nora were giggling like school girls while pointing at Weiss. Ren seemed uninterested, instead eating his lunch and I noticed him shoot a longing glance at Nora. Teal was trying to keep a straight face and be the mature one while Nyanza seemed to be intently checking out Weiss after seeing the clips. Sienna was red with laughter. I didn't look towards Blake, I was still suspicious of her even though she showed no hostility to me... only indifference and disinterest. Instead my eyes were now firmly planted on my friend Weiss. Her face had gone from one of curiosity, to surprise, to shock and finally to unbridled fury.

"SIMON!" Came Weiss' shrill as she went red with fury. I merely tried to look innocent... which only made me look more guilty. "Why would you do that Simon... this is so embarrassing." Weiss continued to rant as the rest of us continued to laugh. I knew Weiss would stop being too angry with my pretty quickly, I'm the only one who could publicly embarrass _Snowflake_ and live to tell the tale... Well maybe Yang could but only because that busty blonde would kick Weiss' ass. "I swear if anyone else sees these clips, I shall end your life Simon." Weiss finally finished ranting, instead just brooding as she silently ate.

Sienna leaned over to me as I ate "You better hope you don't have to verse Weiss in combat class today, She'll make you pay for this." she whispered to me.

"Meh, I've beaten her more times than I can count during our numerous sparing sessions in White Castle. I think I can handle her wrath over this." I whispered back with a light chuckle.

"So Simon, going to be taking Velvet on a date anytime soon?" I heard Weiss ask, and evil tone in her voice.

_'Oh you evil wench.'_ I thought as all eyes at the table came again to rest on me, needless to say I didn't really like the spotlight very much... I'd always been a shadow. "Well to quote Nora: Velvet and I aren't _together together_, not yet anyway." I replied, hoping that would be the end of it.

I saw Weiss get an evil glint in her eye, eager for vengeance at me embarrassing her in public but she didn't say anything, instead biding her time for the perfect moment. As the people at the table began to change subject I heard my scroll buzz, it was a text from Gregory.

_G: No UPPERCUT tonight, meet K&amp;S at JUNIOR's around 8ish for alternate tasking. C-9._

I looked at the message, wondering exactly what the snipers had planned for me. I quickly put the scroll away to ensure that no one saw the message. I looked over to Sienna "Hey Sienna, Wanna hang out this arvo in Vale? I got to swing by the weapon's shop and pick up my new toy." I asked her.

As soon as the words _Weapon Shop_ and _New Toy_ were mentioned Ruby had disappeared in a blur of rose petals and had reappeared next to me "Ooooh what did you get Simon?" The usually shy girl asked.

"Ummm I got myself a MX-20 Sniper Rifle with a few customisations." I replied. This simple reply was followed by a flurry of questions from the weapon crazy teenager. By the time the bell for combat class had rung, I'd learnt things about the MX series of firearms that I'd never knew from Ruby and she'd also challenged me to a shoot off between her and I when I picked the rifle up, which I honestly was looking forward to. Ruby had a reputation as an excellent shot as well as for her speed. _'This will make good practice for beating Kale and Shauno at their own game._ I chuckled to myself as I walked towards the combat arena for yet another round of beating someone to a bloody, auraless pulp, needless to say: this was my favourite class ever... of all time.

**Combat Arena, Simon's PoV:**

Sitting next to Sienna I was watching Nyanza dance all around Dove from CRDL, Nyanza had made Cardin's lackey so mad and swing wildly which resulted in Nyanza being able to manoeuvre the tethered blade of his right gauntlet around the blade of Dove's sword and disarm the CRDL thug before lunging in and using the other tethered blade like a noose, hauling a gagging Dove to the ground thus sealing the match.

"That is the match, our next fight shall be Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee vs. Sienna Reynolds and Simon Alexander. Combatants, take your places." Goodwitch commanded as Nyanza waltzed off victorious.

"Ha Simon, you know Weiss is going to want your guts for garters." Sienna whispered, reminding me of how angry Weiss was at me publicly embarrassing her.

"Yeah, Yeah... but I know all of Weiss' moves, and we've got a few of our own aye." I replied confidently.

As we took our places opposite Weiss and Ruby, I noticed that Ruby was no longer the shy, awkward girl she was most of the time... with her Scyther rifle in hand she looked many times more confident. I also noticed Weiss pointing _Myrtenaster _at me in a very threatening manner. _'Ok, maybe pissing Weiss off today wasn't such a good idea'_ I thought as I drew _Umbra Vigilans_ and flourished it several times before resting it to my side with it set in gun mode, the laser aimer pointed right on Weiss' chest.

As the match started, Sienna kneeled behind her shield and held her gun-axe in a groove in the top of her shield and began to shoot buckshot at Ruby who had attempted to charge in using her semblance and catch the dog Faunus off guard. Ruby had dodged most of the shot, but Sienna had used her keen Faunus senses to anticipate Ruby's move and switch from buck shot to explosive slug and made Ruby wear a round in the thigh, which at such a high speed had caused Ruby to tumble past me as Weiss and I simply circled each other, sizing the other up and trying to find familiar or new weaknesses to exploit.

"Well now isn't this a bit of déjà vu? Me pissing you off then having to fight you a bit later haha." I said light heartedly to Weiss as we circled.

The only reply I got was for her to flourish her rapier and ram the tip into the ground, sending a wave of ice towards me. I rolled to my right and brought my gun staff to bear and I launched a flurry of flechettes at Weiss who brought up a glyph which deflected the kinetic darts away. Weiss then used her agility to handspring to my side and conjure a speed glyph and propelled herself at me as I was still flat footed and stationary in firing position. I didn't bother trying to dodge, Weiss was coming in too fast for me to get out of her path, instead I turned to face her, gun staff still at my waist and ready to fire.

I didn't have to bother trying to evade the strike as my trusty partner: Sienna jumped in front of me at the last moment and slammed her shield up under Weiss' rapier and up into her ribcage. "Thanks Sienna, I owe you one." I replied as I shot a smug grin Weiss' way.

"No problem Simon, I'm eager to try and prove to everyone that SNST can actually work together!" Sienna replied with a determination and aggression I'd not really seen in her since initiation. I hung back and faced Ruby who was still trying to get up and recover from the tumble that Sienna's round had sent her on. Ruby managed to stand up and though she looked kind of dazed and surprised that Sienna had managed to anticipate her move so effortlessly.

I flourished my gun staff and charged in towards her, Ruby however readied her Scythe and fired its sniper rifle at me, I wore the massive .50 cal slug right in my midsection which sent me flying and drained my aura severely. "Ugh! Oh you little bitch!" I swore under my breath as I rolled to my feet and swung my staff to my hip, firing flechettes at the scythe wielder. Ruby used her semblance to dodge the incoming rounds and dash towards me, that massive and intimidating scythe bearing down on me. I dug my heels in and as Ruby drew near I activated my semblance and slowed Rubes right down, even then she was moving at a blistering speed but it was enough to position my staff's blade where the massive curved blade of Ruby's scythe met the shaft/sniper rifle which succeeded in killing Ruby's momentum. I then used my superior height to deliver a punishing boot to Ruby's face. Ruby managed to keep hold of her Scythe and retreated slightly from my, opting speed shot sniper rounds down at me. I dodged and weaved as quick as I could but I wore another round in my right arm. Even though my Aura stopped any major damage being done, the concussion that the impact made was enough to leave my arm feeling numb and all but useless. I staggered towards the centre of the arena where Weiss and Sienna were battling it out.

Weiss was using her Rapier's dust cartridges to try and batter down Sienna's strong defence with combinations of Ice, Fire and Rocks being flung with glyphs. But couldn't get close enough to stab or slash at the dog Faunus due to her axe's ability to fire off buckshot or explosive slugs. I got behind Sienna, my right arm limp by my side, the feeling only just beginning to come back to my arm. "Sienna, I'm temporarily out of this, mind covering me" I asked in a pained tone.

Sienna's face grew even more determined. "You got it Mon Capitaine, protecting others is what I do best!" I took a knee and began flexing my arm, trying to get feeling back in it as Sienna locked her shield in front of her chest and placed her axe in the groove at the top where it can be used to fire or be quickly moved into a position to swing the curved axe blade at one of her opponents. Weiss and Ruby circled around Sienna and I, even with a limp arm, I could still lash out with my staff or lob grenades with my dominant left hand.

Weiss charged in, using a speed glyph and then used a propulsion to send her skyward over the blow that Sienna tried to deliver with her round shield. I saw that Sienna had overbalanced and would not be able to recover from her attempted strike before Weiss shot down at her, I folded reached in and pulled out a dust grenade, pulled the pin and dropped it at my feet. "Sienna, Semblance NOW!" I yelled as I crash tackled Sienna away from where I'd dropped the explosive and Sienna used her semblance to create a shield bubble around her and I. Weiss to was saved from the explosion by the speed of Ruby's semblance to pick her up mid-run and carry her across the arena, though the added weight of the Heiress caused Ruby to once again tumble to the ground.

I stood and lobbed another grenade toward the White Rose pair as Sienna shot an explosive slug from her axe. Ruby and Weiss saw the incoming threat and managed to encase herself and Ruby in an ice bubble. I flexed my arm again, this time managing not to wince. _'Good, I'm back in the fight'_ I thought as I got into a sprinters start, ready to rush Weiss and not give her or Rubes time to recover from the explosions.

"Sienna: you take on Rubes... I got Weiss, she has no tricks I don't know." I ordered as the explosive slug hit the ice and the dust grenade exploded moments later. I saw ball bearings from the grenade impact the bubble shield "Go!" I called to Sienna as I charged towards the disorientated Weiss. Weiss saw me charging down at her and charged straight back at me, though she was a bit shaky. As I drew near I knew what Weiss was going to attempt due to our many hundreds of sparing matches at White Castle, I slashed my gun staff's forward blade across the ground, causing Weiss to have to abandon her attempt to slide through my legs and get in behind me. "Oh no you don't!" I said smugly as Weiss skidded to a stop.

"Oh you want to play it like that then huh?" Weiss smirks as she coats her blade in yellow electric dust, much like Teal does with her whip. I flourished my staff and waited went straight onto the offensive, slashing horizontally at Weiss' midsection a slash the Weiss athletically limbo under before retaliating with a upwards strike at my face. I managed to move my head away from the electrified blade and lash out with my steel capped boot into Weiss' left knee.

"Gotta do better than that _Snowflake!"_ I taunted as I continued my assault on the Heiress with quick short stabs with both ends of my staff twirling the blade and myself to strike at every possible angle and to fully utilise my staff's double bladed design, trying to tire out Weiss as I knew she had little endurance compared to most other combatants at Beacon.

Weiss was being overwhelmed with both the strength and speed of my strikes, but still had a few cards up her sleeve, as I advanced upon her for a downward thrust I saw a speed glyph appear under my feet and then I was being propelled across the arena and into the far wall. "Ugh, should've seen that one coming!" I coughed as I slid down the wall to the ground. glancing at the aura gauges, I was currently in the orange, only a few more strikes away from being knocked out of the fight, Weiss was about as low as I was. Sienna and Ruby both had quite a high level of Aura left, both still being in the green, Sienna's had barely dropped at all.

I stood shakily as I saw Weiss leaping up into the air and then using a glyph to shoot herself like a dart at me. I activated my semblance and as everything slowed down for a moment I managed to duck under Weiss , dropping my staff as I did. As she passed over me like a ballistic dart I pushed myself upwards and as things returned to normal speed, I tackled her mid air, my gauntleted arms wrapping around her upper chest, swinging her like a rag doll as gravity took over and brought us down to the ground so that she'd hit first. We hit the ground and my shoulder smashed into Weiss' chest, knocking the wind out of the Heiress. "Game Over Weiss as I pinned her on the ground by sitting on my waist, both my gauntlets' blades crossed over Weiss' throat, signifying a kill strike.

Weiss seemed to have noticed the compromising position she found herself in and shoved my smirking form off of her, looking furious she holstered _Myrtenaster_ and made her way to the edge of the arena. I turned my attention to where Sienna and Ruby were battling it out. Ruby was trying to use her speed to trip up Sienna and get around her impressive defence. But Sienna wasn't budging and met each one of Crescent Rose's strikes with either her shield or her axe. I ejected the current magazine on _Umbra Vigilans_ and took aim at Ruby, unleashing a hail of flechettes at the hooded girl who had her attention on Sienna and thus didn't see the darts impacting her back. Ruby lunged out of the way after the first 5 or so impacts and used her speed to dodge the further bursts I fired at the her. I used my fire to force ruby into a corner so Sienna and I could move closer together, but at a really bad time my gun staff jammed. Ruby saw my weapon's malfunction and barrelled in at full speed swinging her scythe at me which I had to dodge with a jump as I couldn't raise my staff to block it in time.

I growled in anger at my weapon failing me, but I preferred it malfunction now than in life or death combat. As I tried to fall back, my momentum destroyed Ruby kept pushing, using the recoil from her shots to propel her in every direction, slashing and cutting at me. _'Ugh how can this little red bitch move so fast with such a big fucking weapon!" _I mentally cursed as I got caught off guard and was struck in the right shin by the scythe. Even though I'd been knocked to my knees, I wasn't out of this. As Ruby charged in again, I horizontally slashed a mere 5 inches off the ground with my staff's blade, the shaft tucked against my hip as I threw my whole body weight into the strike. Ruby however managed to not only dodge my slash but shot her weapon towards the ground and flipped over me, I realised I was doomed, having thrown my entire weight and strength into that strike and now was not in any position to block any of Ruby's strikes and Sienna was still just out of range to be of any help. Ruby landed and struck me in the head lightly with the back of her scythe, deciding not to risk actually decapitating me with the razor sharp blade of her weapon.

With me now 'dead' I made my way to the edge and sat next to Weiss and watched as our partners traded blows with their weapons. Ruby was agile and quick where as Sienna was strong and cautious (unlike myself) in her combat style. "5 Lien on Sienna." I said snidely to Weiss.

Weiss looked at me and scoffed "I don't make such trivial bets, they are beneath a Schnee... 500 Lien on Ruby." Came the humoured come back.

"Deal... prepare to lose that Lien." I replied and turned to see Ruby manage to out flank Sienna and use her Scythe to take Sienna's legs out from under her. Sienna fell to the ground but rolled away, kneeling behind her shield as she fired buck shot at Ruby as the red headed reaper tried to follow up with a downward strike on Sienna. Sienna rolled from the strike and hit back with an axe strike into Ruby's back. Ruby tumbled to the ground, looking quite exhausted from using so much speed for such a long fight. Sienna brought down her axe to finish the match but it was blocked by the shaft of Ruby's scythe less than 10cm from her Ruby's head. Sienna withdrew her axe while simultaneously punting Ruby in the right hip. Ruby yelped in pain as Sienna went swiftly and mercilessly from defence to offence. Ruby rolled out of the way of a savage axe swing but couldn't dodge Sienna's shield being rammed into Ruby's right knee.

"Wow, look at that... Sienna is very methodical in her offence, slowly taking out Ruby's strength which is her speed by injuring her leg's joints and not wasting a single strike. I must say that I'm impressed." I said with a slightly sadistic chuckle.

"Simon, that's our friend... How can you be so callous?" Weiss asked quite angrily as Ruby was reduced to almost a crawl, using Crescent Rose to shoot at Sienna, who merely blocked her shot with her shield, but the Recoil had put distance between Ruby and Sienna.

"Because this is combat... no room for any mercy, empathy or niceties to the enemy." I replied deadpanned. Weiss leered at me but smirked upon seeing Ruby managing to get to her feet even as Sienna fired explosive slugs from her axe at the young reaper while advancing. I saw Ruby heft her scythe up and trying to compose herself to strike back at my partner.

Sienna launched another slug, but it hit not but air as a chilling scream filled the arena and a blur of red could be seen flying through the air. Sienna readied her shield but was hit with such force that she was knocked over. Ruby skidded to a stop at the far end of the arena, a look of pure survival instinct on her face as she savagely screamed and despite having a visible limp took off once more, her scythe levelled at Sienna who fired another explosive slug at the reaper but to no avail. Sienna activated her semblance, hoping that her bubble shield would stop Ruby, that also failed. The reaper tore straight through it and swung her scythe into Sienna's shield and once more knocked Sienna down. This time however Ruby pinned Sienna and readied her scythe for a deadly strike. But it never came as an alarm sounded and Goodwitch stepped into the centre of the arena.

"Good work children... your skills are improving noticeably, this was one of the most intense matches I've seen from this batch of first years." Goodwitch commended as Weiss and I stood, both of us making our way over to Ruby who was limping quite noticeably and looking absolutely exhausted.

"Easy does it Rubes, we've got you." I said as I looped a hand over her shoulder and Weiss did the same.

"Come on Ruby. We'll get you back to the dorm so you can rest." Weiss said in a caring manner.

I looked over to my friend, smiling that she had developed a more openly caring side while here at Beacon. "Sienna, go back to Teal and Nyanza. I'll see you guys at the landing pads to go into Vale. " I ordered my teammate as Weiss, Ruby and I exited the combat arena not even bothering to seek Goodwitch's approval to do so in order to get Ruby back to her dorm to let her Aura heal the injuries to her hip and knee.

**That Afternoon 4pm, Vale. Simon's PoV:**

"Hey Sienna, I haven't seen such aggression from you in any of your previous matches. What brought that on today?" I asked my partner as we and Teal and Nyanza walked through downtown Vale. I'd opted to wear my webbing with my black outfit with my bandolier, gauntlets and webbing which earned me looks from many people.

"I'd seen how easily Ruby had taken you down Simon... and I have seen how hard you are to 'kill' so I knew I'd need to be much more aggressive than my usual tactic of waiting them out with my strong defence until they make mistakes and/or get tired." Sienna replied.

"Well Ruby is someone to be watch, to get here 2 years early AND have beaten Roman Torchwick in a fight... she must be extremely skilled." I replied, spitting Roman's name in contempt.

"I honestly will feel sorry for this Roman guy if you ever catch up to him." Teal said, observing my pure hatred for that thing.

"Oh, I intent on making his demise a very slow, painful one." I replied, not even caring that I sounded like a psycho.

"Well... that escalated quickly." Nyanza commented as we arrived at the weapon shop.

"Trust me Nyanza... his fate will be well deserved, now come on... I want to get my new toy." I said, ending the conversation as I jogged through the doors and straight to the counter.

"Ahh Mr Alexander, your order arrived this morning." The attendant said as they went out back, coming back a moment later with a large carry case. "One MX-20 Sniper Weapon System chambered for .338 rounds and made for left-handed shooters with your chosen customisations and 100 rounds of ammunition." The attendant said as I handed over the Lien all to eagerly, just wanting to get my hands on the weapon.

Without so much as a goodbye or a thank-you I took the carry case and the boxes of ammo and left, my team following curiously in tow. As I exited the building I walked several blocks in silence until I came to a large complex marked _Vale Rifle and Pistol Club_. "I agreed to meet Ruby and her team here, Ruby while a bit battered and exhausted couldn't resist the opportunity to check out the MX, apparently she has an especially soft spot for sniper rifles." I explained to a sad looking Sienna, obviously she felt pretty bad for being so aggressive and vicious to Ruby in combat class.

"I know, but still she should be resting." Sienna replied, getting a nod of agreement from Teal.

"Pfft, Ruby's dealt with more violent and painful fights than that... anytime she and Yang fight being the prime example." Nyanza retorted in defence of his friend.

Looking down the street I could see Ruby, Weiss and Yang approaching, even from here I could see Ruby's excitement and the limp she had earlier was barely visible now.

Nyanza walked over to the sisters of Team RWBY and looked Ruby over from head to toe before smirking and turning to Sienna and I "Come on guys... you barely made a scratch on her, how shameful being beaten by someone 2 years your junior.

"Fuck off Nyanza, or I'll feed you to Teal to use as a punching bag." I shot back before entering the building.

Entering the 1000m range I saw two figures already setting up their rifles: A taller, bulkier man setting up a large .50 cal and a smaller man setting up a MX-20 exactly like mine but with a more traditional sniper scope. _'Oh come on... not these two!'_ I thought as I saw Shauno turn from his MX-20 to face me, he smirked and winked at me but then quickly turned back to his weapon as my team and team RWY entered the 1000m range

"You ready to get beat for the 2nd time today Simon!" Yang said as she patted her sister on the back.

"Oh Yang... At least I can hit an enemy that is more than 3 feet away from me with my weapons." I retorted with just a hint of condescendence.

Yang looked furious at my remark but everyone, including the Snipers were laughing.

Ruby stepped forward and unfolded her weapon into its rifle mode "Regardless of the result, it shall be fun to actually have do some proper shooting, I've never really had much chance to fully use Crescent Rose's sniper function before." The young reaper said sadly.

"Well I learnt to snipe from a couple guys I used to work with in Atlas, the biggest assholes one could ever meet, but they knew their stuff and saved my life more than once. I'm pretty rusty these days though but I think I could still outshoot you and them." I replied as I assembled the rifle and opened up the Nighthawk sights.

I could almost see the looks of indignation on Kale and Shauno's faces... the one thing that really ate at them was to have someone challenge their abilities as marksmen.

I heard Kale's booming footsteps as the imposing figure walked over to our group. "I do apologise for barging in, but I was wondering if you'd like to join me and my associates competition make it a 4 way shoot instead of 1v1?" He asked with false kindness.

Ruby looked intently at Kale, then getting a seeming look of recognition. "Hey I know you... You were with Julia outside a restaurant a year or two back."

Kale eyed Ruby before chuckling "So you're her little stalker friend. I haven't actually seen her in a long while." Kale answered before looking over and suddenly looking very nervous when he saw Yang.

"Sure, just makes more people to beat." I answered Kale's question cockily.

"Sounds good, Yo Morgan ready up we got some amateurs to school." Kale called out to his younger friend.

_'Ahh, they're going by their surnames as cover identities. Nice going boys.'_ I thought as I loaded rounds into one of the magazines and loaded it into the MX-20. "Well I'll shoot first, try and break this bad boy in." I said as I worked the bolt in a dramatic fashion.

I put on ear protection laid down and positioned myself and looked down the sights. I knew using the Nighthawk to its full potential probably was cheating, but I had not a single fuck to give if it meant beating the snipers. I thumbed the controls on the scope to bring it to x25 zoom and zero the scope to 1000m, lining up the target slowly, exhaling and holding my breath so that my breathing didn't cause me to miss my mark. Once I was satisfied with my aiming I squeezed the trigger, the rifle jumped back into my shoulder from the recoil of the large calibre round exiting the barrel and travelling quicker than the speed of sound over the flat, windless range to hit 15mm left of the bullseye 1000m away.

I worked the bolt to load another round, but put the safety on and then stood up "Beat that Rubes." I said cockily. The cockiness was meant for Kale and Shauno, but we had to keep up the charade that we didn't know each other.

Ruby stepped up her weapon out in its rifle mode. I looked at it curiously, as did the snipers all of us coming to the same conclusion: She was at a serious disadvantage. No bipod with such a large calibre round, a very small scope for such a long range. _'I so got this shit'_ we all thought simultaneously. Ruby stepped up to the mark and took careful aim, firing her weapon Ruby skidded backwards across the range floor, nearly hitting the back wall. Looking through my scope I saw that Ruby had hit about 50mm from the bullseye.

"Pretty good Ruby for what you've got, but not good enough to beat me." I said cheekily as Ruby huffed and went to stand by Weiss.

Turning to the snipers who had already set up at their rifles. "What do you think Smyth, he put it at 15mm from bullseye... I think I'll get 14mm." I heard Shauno say in a most cocky tone.

"If you get 14mm Morgan, I'll put it 13mm from the bullseye." Came Kale's arrogant reply to his buddy.

I rolled my eyes as the snipers fired in sync. I looked up to the screen where a ballistics computer calculated the hit down to a millimetre. Morgan: 14mm from bullseye. Smyth: 13mm from bullseye.

_'Oh you cheeky fucking pricks.'_ I thought as the scores came up.

"you're up mate." Kale called out in a smartass tone.

_'Oh you guys are sooo going down!'_ I thought as I took my place once more.

**90 minutes later, Simon's PoV:**

It had been an interesting hour and a half, Yang had left, probably to find Blake about an hour ago, which the snipers and I both seemed glad for. In the standings: Ruby had bowed out, realising her rifle had no chance against the more accurate firearms that the snipers and I used. Kale was in the lead and I'd managed to leapfrog Shauno into 2nd, something that he was very pissed off about right now. It Kale and I's last shot each to decide the winner.

Kale lined his shot up and fired, hitting right in the middle of the bullseye. "Well, I guess I win then aye!" came Kale's cocky statement.

_'Yeah, nah... fuck you.'_ I thought as I took my place, but not before giving a thumbs up to my teammates who had been just chatting to Ruby and Weiss, mainly Ruby to grill her for info on how she knew the snipers, I listened intently to the red reaper's answers between shots.

I laid prone and got comfortable in the way I held the rifle and lined up my shot, taking my sweet time to line it up. Once I was satisfied with my shot I squeezed the trigger. The rifle jumped back, but in the periphery of my vision I saw Shauno also taking a shot _'What in the hell is he doing?'_ I thought as I continued to look through my scope to see if my round hit. But to my amazement I saw a flash in my scope about 100m short of the target. I racked the bolt to eject the spent round and then safed my weapon before standing up and looking to the screens to find out what had happened: I saw Shauno's bullet hit my own and a fused bullet now lay on the ground, it was a 1 in a trillion shot to do that. I looked to my friend who had the smuggest grin on his face as he walked over to me and whispered "Never challenge mine or Kale's shooting ability again mate" before walking over to congratulate Kale on winning and to pack up their gear to leave, I now had a hunch on why I was needed by them tonight... I hoped I was wrong but I'd have to wait until later to find out what was happening.

I wanted to be angry at the cheating, but I was just too damned impressed with the skill it required to pull that shot off. Walking back over to my team, Ruby and Weiss. "Sorry you lost Simon, but hey it was fun... I never knew those guys could shoot so well." Ruby said in a consoling tone.

"Yeah, well something tells me I'll have another crack at them." I chuckled.

"So Simon, now that you've successfully wasted like two hours of our weekend... I reckon you owe us some pizza." Nyanza asked, obviously hinting that he was hungry.

I raised an eyebrow at my teammate but relented "Fine you little scabber, I'll shout you guys pizza again. Ruby, Weiss you're welcome to join us if you'd like." I asked, hoping to be able to spend a bit more time with Weiss, I disliked not being able to see my friend as much as I'd like.

Ruby seemed quite excited for a pizza night, but Weiss reacted exactly as I'd expected her to: with a light scoff and a look of indignation. Ruby turned to her partner and gave her a puppy dog look, I had to turn away lest I be brought under the power of just how adorable Ruby looked when she pouted "Bu- But Weiss, you dragged me to that icky fancy restaurant that only rich snobs go to the other week... why not let me take you to try some real tasty food with our friends." I turned back to look at the scene, Ruby's eyes were almost impossibly big and Weiss' scowl melted away against the Heiress' will.

"Fine Ruby, I'll come along... but try to not be as hyperactive of fidgety as you were last time." Weiss replied exasperatedly. Ruby jumped for joy and dashed off towards the exit, a trail of rose petals behind her.

"I swear I want to know how she does that." I asked as I grabbed one of the petals out of midair.

"Who knows, we always assumed it was a semblance thing." Nyanza replied as he began to follow Ruby.

I shrugged and returned to my rifle to pack it back into its carry case and put the bucket which had the spent shell casings in a disposal area. Once I was satisfied that the area we had occupied was clean I jogged to catch up with the group. Falling in next to Weiss I couldn't help but start sniggering and giving her a massive grin "You lied to me Weiss, you totally did take Ruby out on a date. To a posh upper class place no less." I said tauntingly.

Weiss turned to look at me, a stern look upon her face. "Simon, It WASN'T a date... say that once more and I swear I'll slap you." Weiss rebuked, holding her palm threateningly.

I chuckled, "I bet I know somewhere on Ruby you'd much rather use that slap on." I replied, moving out of Weiss' reach as a precaution.

Weiss' face went blood red and her look was one of pure fury, the Heiress stepped right up to my face "Care to repeat that Simon?" She said threateningly.

I threw my hands up "Whoa there _Snowflake_, don't get so close... Ruby might get jealous if she sees you cracking onto me like this." I said in my most smartarse tone right before I ran away at a speed that could rival Ruby.

"I'll get you Simon! I know where you live!" I could hear Weiss yelling to me, however she didn't chase after me because I knew she wouldn't act so childishly in public, which was fine by me as it would let her temper cool before we arrived at the pizzeria.

**6:30pm, Papa Ackbar's Pizza Shop. Simon's PoV:**

"See Weiss, it wasn't so bad." Ruby beamed as she essentially force-fed Weiss a slice of pepperoni pizza while everyone watched on amusedly.

"I suddenly feel like some sort of tortured babysitter." Weiss groaned in frustration, probably regretting letting Ruby bring her here.

"Well Weiss look at the upside of being the 'tortured babysitter', if you eat like Ruby, maybe eventually you'll get a bust like hers." I whispered into her ear, ensuring Ruby and Nyanza didn't hear my lewd comment.

Weiss huffed indignantly but then looked very self conscious, crossing her arms over her nearly flat chest.

"What did you say to her Simon?" Nyanza asked me, a devilish smirk upon his face obviously wanting to get in on the Weiss-bashing.

"Something that you'd probably get neutered for saying to her." I replied knowing that I was flirting with danger myself.

Nyanza nodded understandingly before turning back to look as Ruby laughed at Weiss' scowling face. I looked over the scene, I couldn't help but be happy: My team and the White Rose pair of Team RWBY seemed to get along quite well and despite her scowling I could see a glint of enjoyment and softness in Weiss' eyes.

As happy as I was to see SNST get along during our free time, we still had ways to go before we were an effective team in combat or anything that put the slightest stress on us. Looking at my watch I knew that we'd have to leave soon, I had places to be and I had to lose my friends before then. I pushed aside my thoughts of how to make SNST a more effective team and loudly clapped my hands together. "I'm sorry to interrupt your conversations of force feeding, but last shuttles back to Beacon leave soon and anyone not staying in town probably should get going towards the landing pads." I could hear Sienna, Teal and Ruby all grumbling as they begrudgingly stood to leave.

Weiss looked relieved to finally be free of the greasy _peasant_ _food_ as she had called it more than once tonight. I guess she was more used to the higher quality food served in White Castle or Beacon's cafeteria. As we exited I began slowly letting myself to drift behind the main group and quietly slip into the shadows. But unfortunately Weiss noticed me slowly dropping behind and dropped back with me.

"And just where do you think you're going to sneak off to? I've heard rumours you're getting involved in some pretty unsavoury things outside of Beacon." Weiss accused disapprovingly.

"Weiss, it isn't anything you need to be worried about... I'll be fine." I replied reassuringly.

"I've heard you come back to Beacon the last two weekends very bruised, bloodied and battered... I've got good reason to worry about you." Came Weiss' caring reply, her softer side showing... the side her father had tried so hard to destroy but the Heiress defiantly let flourish in secret.

I stopped to face Weiss "_Snowflake_, you know the things I've been involved with... let's just say that what I'm doing in my spare time is to try and make right what I've made wrong." I replied in yet another half truth.

"So this is about what happened after the first weekend you came into Beacon?" Weiss managed to piece together the puzzle in record time.

_'Damned Weiss' intelligence... damn it to hell'_ I thought frustrated. "Yeah, It's about that. Weiss I can't say too much about it... But I need you to trust me on this and not tell the others anything." I ordered firmly.

Weiss nodded but leaned in and hugged me, a very rare thing for Weiss to do. "You get back to Beacon safe after you take care of whatever needs taking care of ok, I don't want to lose my closest friend." Weiss whispered to me before letting go and strolling off towards the others who had disappeared around the corner and hadn't seen this exchange. "Also don't die because you still owe 500 Lien Simon!" Weiss called back at me just before she disappeared from view. I chuckled then sighed before turning to walk down another street towards Vale's Red Light sector.

**A/N:** Not my best work I know but I just couldn't get my usual rhythm going when I sit down to write. I hope you all enjoy this regardless and I'll endeavour to have the next chapter out within a week. -CC Signing off.


	36. To Lose a Friend

**A/N:** All I'm going to say now is: WARNING: INCOMING FEELS TRIPS!

**Chapter 35: To Lose a Friend: 8pm Friday, Week 6. Junior's Club, Simon's PoV:**

I wasn't even stopped by the guards at the entrance to the club, I just walked straight in as it was a bit early for large line ups of patrons which was probably a good thing given how heavily armed I was. I saw Junior talking to the snipers. I kept my distance, waiting to be called over. Looking around I could see the twins standing up near a DJ looking over the small crowd of early birds, I could see why the snipers were enthralled with the two given the twin's beauty and style of clothing. A waitress went past with a tray of scotch glasses, taking one I began to sip and observe the goings on in the club. I saw a lot of huddled conversations in booths around the place, most likely various illegal dealings going down before the legitimate business of clubbing began and the more shady stuff moved to the private suites.

"Ahh if it isn't the associate of our friend in intelligence, head up and find those irritating snipers. They got everything you need to know." Junior said walking past, taking my scotch glass as he did and downing it himself. "Sorry kid, last under aged drinker I had in here trashed the place... bloody blonde bitch." Junior explained as he walked off towards the twins.

I flipped him the bird behind his back and walked up the stairs to the private suite that Gregory had taken me to, entering I saw the two snipers sitting there looking quite chuffed with themselves.

"Well if it isn't the little upstart... thinking he can beat us at our own game to impress a certain Heiress." Kale commented cockily.

"But we certainly showed him, hopefully he hasn't lost the favour of his fair maiden." Shauno replied in a upper classed accent.

"Fuck you guys, no really... I've told you enough times there's nothing between Weiss and I." I replied as I placed my staff and sniper rifle down on a large table with the Sniper's rifles.

"Oh really... well these tell a different story." Shauno said as he tossed a bunch of photos onto the small coffee table between the snipers.

Curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to look at what they'd apparently had that contradicts the truth. Picking up the pile I saw screenshots from security cameras of Weiss and I duelling back at White Castle: The screenshots showed us during unarmed combat training in some rather compromising and sexual looking positions during our melees, though we were still clothed.

I looked up at the two laughing snipers and rolled my eyes "Do I even want to know how or why you have these? I mean this is grasping at straws even by your standards." I said in a very irritated tone, which I knew was just feeding these two trolls.

"We contacted some friends we had at White Castle... just because we were too big a pair of fuckwits to get posted there doesn't mean people we knew didn't. One of our friends ran the security room and got us these screenshots from old video logs." Shauno explained.

"I swear you guys just enjoy being asshole's to me." I replied tossing the photos down.

"Nah, we enjoy being assholes to Sanderson more, but he aint here and you're a close 2nd." Kale replied.

I rolled my eyes but resisted the urge to nut shot the pair. "Do I need to bring Miss Goodwitch back to meet you guys again?" I said menacingly. Upon hearing her name both Snipers immediately protectively covered their groins and I began to laugh. "Oh you guys look terrified right now!" I said through my laughs.

"Not funny dude... Shauno literally lost a ball because of her!" Kale exclaimed. Shauno nodding in confirmation.

"Well guess he is half a eunuch now." I joked, much to the disdain and horror of the snipers.

"Ok well all joking aside, down to business. Tonight we're going to be hitting the _White Fang_ where it hurts. It seems our abilities as marksmen are needed by the agents taking on the Fang in order to eliminate some high ranking officers that are having a meeting tonight." Kale explained, all humour suddenly gone from his voice.

I nodded, looking over to the table where our weapons sat "I guess we aren't getting up close and personal with this are we."

The snipers nodded "3 Targets, 3 shooters, 3 simultaneous shots." Kale answered.

"Well lead the way... let's get this over and done with." I said hesitantly as I stood and collected my staff and rifle and followed the snipers out the rear of the club and to an armoured SUV that I guess _Vale Intelligence_ had loaned to us for the mission.

**30 Minutes Later, Vale Freeway. Simon's PoV:**

"Are we there yet." I said for about the 20th time in about 15 minutes.

"I swear Simon if you say that again I'm going to lose it." Kale said sounding irritated, which was something I'd rarely seen him be.

"Yeah, Yeah. Question: What's the go with Junior? Like is he a diabolical, criminal spy? An intelligence agent gone rogue?" I asked, actually curious about the information broker.

"Well Junior keeps his past as secret as he possibly can, but from what we have learnt: He started out as an information gatherer in one of Vale's major crime families. Eventually he began building networks and spying on all the crime families and collected enough dirt to break free of his former employers and go independent. His network of spies, informants and corrupt officials grew until he had ears and eyes everywhere. Being an information broker and spy master is what he is good at, though running his club is his hobby and passion. He isn't a _'bad guy'_ as such, he is more neutral... he will just as happily sell info to help the authorities as he would to help out the shadier parts of society... it's all about the highest bidder to him." Shauno explained as Kale drove.

I nodded, gaining a new level of respect and weariness towards the charming Junior, he operates in a very gray area not good or bad not affiliated with any organisation, ideology or person's schemes. Though at the same time: people only motivated by money were just as dangerous due to the fact they'd betray you the moment a higher bid was made.

"Ok then, moving on: Kale, what the hell made you go so pale when you saw Yang?" I asked, wanting to know what history this guy had with the buxom blonde.

"Well that blonde one, she trashed the club one time looking for information, we were working that night on the floor without our sniper rifles and well we got fucked up big time by her." Shauno explained the quite legitimate fear of Yang.

"Guess you guys are lucky she didn't recognise you then, or all 3 of us would have been up shit creek." I replied.

"Yeah, that is not a conversation and beat down I'd like NOT to endure." Kale said as he pulled off the freeway and towards Vale Central Park.

"I can imagine you wouldn't" I replied as I sat back in my seat to try and compose myself for the coming deed.

**2 Hours Later, Car park overlooking Vale Central Park. Simon's PoV: **

It had been a long quiet wait in the top storey of a car park that had a nice view of just about the entirety of Vale's largest park. There had been a pair of what looked like intelligence agents at the entrance to ensure no one but us entered the car park to ensure secrecy of our actions.

Shauno and I had passed the time various card games in the soundproofed car while Kale kept watch over the park. "Royal Flush my friend." I whispered cockily to Shauno as we revealed our cards to our mini poker game.

"Damn it, I swear you're cheating! That's the 10th hand in a row you've won!" Shauno whispered grumpily back. Even though the car was soundproofed we still whispered, the atmosphere was tense. A small tap on the doo signalled that Kale wanted to be let in. Opening the door Kale entered with a manila folder closing the door behind him.

"Well the guys down at the entrance brought me this, photos of our targets. They also informed me that the meeting should take place in about half an hour, guess it's time to set up." Kale informed us, tossing a photo of our assigned targets to Shauno and I.

"This all seems odd to me, why only give us our targets now and why get us to do this rather than get a Cipher agent or the _Head Hunters_ to do it?" I asked as I studied the scaly lizard like Faunus I'd been assigned to kill.

"From our experience, those blokes in intelligence always do things a little odd... like why all 3 of us and Gregory are working for them rather than being locked away by them in some rat infested hell hole as a threat to Vale's security." Kale replied, obviously having asked himself this question a few times.

"Not to mention how they work with Junior and certain other underworld figures to circumvent the oversight of the Vale Council. We've just learnt to roll with it." Shauno added on.

I nodded in understanding, seeing the sniper's point and pushed my doubts from my mind as I picked up the carry bag and unzipped it to unveil my sniper rifle. "Guess it is finally time to see how the thermals on this thing do in the field." I said half to myself as I exited the car to climb up onto the roof of the car where I'll be shooting from while Shauno and Kale would be shooting from inside the vehicle. We spent the next 30 minutes in almost silence as the three of us cleaned and prepared rifles, zeroing scopes and scanning the park for where this supposed meeting was going to take place.

While I was scanning the park through my thermal scope I saw several groups of Faunus converging on a tree near a small lake. "Guys, I think this party is about to get started." I said through my commlink to Kale and Shauno and I chambered a round before switching the scope over to night vision in order to distinguish facial features on my target.

I looked at the photo that Kale had provided before, memorizing the facial features with great detail. I'd never really done this before: studying the face of a man who'd I'd momentarily be killing without any warning, any combat and in cold blood. The emptiness hit me like a freight train and my hands shook lightly as I put my eye back to the scope, searching the dozen or so Faunus for that one face.

"Eyes on my target" I heard Shauno say robotically.

"Got a fix on mine to... seems this guy got laid before he came here, his neck is covered in love bites. At least he got lucky once more before he meets his sudden and unexpected end." Kale said with a morbidly dark chuckle.

"Jeez that's pretty fucking morbid Kale!" I whispered through the commlink

"Yeah, but dark humour is what gets us through missions like this. Trust me it's better to think of this as just putting down an animal and to make jokes. Now do you have a fix on your target?" Kale replied, the humoured tone still in his voice.

I scanned again and eventually found the lizard Faunus I'd been assigned. The lizard looked no older than about 35, he raised his hand to his head and I saw a wedding band. _'Don't think about it Simon! Just do the job... this person is in the Fang!'_ I mentally rebuked myself, but the thought that this man had a life, a family didn't leave my mind. _'At least I don't know his name... that makes this easier'_ I thought as I forced my hands to steady and stop shaking.

"Ok Simon, we're ready to go. Just waiting for you to line up your shot and we can put these animals down." Kale said through the radio, no humour or any emotion at all in his voice. It unnerved me to hear the usually perpetually humorous sniper so serious.

"Yeah, just give me a moment." I replied, my voice shaky as I lined up the shot . Zooming in as far as I could I placed the crosshair right on the bridge of the lizard's nose. "Ok, I'm good to go... let's get this BS over and done with." I growled into the commlink.

In the vehicle, the snipers exchanged a worried look, knowing what the other was thinking: _'It was a mistake to bring him into this mission.'_

"Ok Simon, on three we fire. We got to get this synced because I don't know if these guys have aura and these aren't Aura penetrating rounds we have here." Kale ordered as he worked the bolt and steadied his aim.

I held my breath and did my best not to shake, lest I miss. "1, 2, 3" I heard Kale whisper into the commlink and after three I closed my eyes as I squeezed the trigger in sync with the two snipers in the car and our deadly bullets raced towards the _White Fang_ in our sights...

**That same moment in Vale Park. Roman Torchwick's PoV:**

I stood hidden away, watching the Faunus have their meeting. Disgusting animals they were but I've found myself in a position where I needed them. It had cost a lot of Lien to Junior to find out about this _White Fang_ faction leadership meeting and even more to get the three thorns in my side by the names of Kale, Shaun and most irritatingly Simon to be sent to assassinate the leaders. _'Two birds with one stone.'_ I chuckled to myself as I heard the shots ring out across the land.

looking out towards the meeting, I saw two of the leaders: the Faunus in charge of their money laundering and another one in charge of smuggling weapons to them take bullets in the skull: clean, quick kills. But the third target: The overall leader of this particular faction of the _White Fang_ was hit in the throat. Blood exploded out of him, coating his comrades in his cold lizard blood before falling over, drowning in his own blood. I heard a lot of shouting from his reptilian Lieutenant, mostly orders to lock the area down and find who had done this to his leaders.

I strode from my hiding place and lit a cigar as I went. Two _White Fang_ minions saw me and charged me with swords. I simply twirled my can as they approached. When they got near enough, I blocked the first one's strike with my cane, simultaneously using my right leg to trip him over. I smacked him in the back of the head with my cane as he fell. Turning to the other who had stopped after seeing what happened to his friend reached for a pistol in his belt but instead died before he could grasp it as I shot him with my _Melodic Cudgel_. With that I continued forward, right up to the sleeveless Lieutenant who had an overly large chainsaw in his hands.

"Well, Lookssss like we have a brave one here. Tell me human. Why sssshouldn't I have my men kill you?" The Lieutenant asked, in a snake like tone, complete with hissing every time he used 's'.

"Because my reptilian friend: what if I told you where to find the ones who did this to your leaderssss?" I replied, mocking his method of speech.

The _White Fang_ officer held his weapon up threateningly. "Do not ever mock me! Now do tell me, where are the murdererssss?" he demanded.

"They are in the multi-levelled parking lot overlooking the park." I replied, the LT immediately ordered most of the soldiers he had brought towards the parking lot, exactly as I hoped he would.

Once all the soldiers had left, leaving only myself, the LT and three dead bodies the LT turned to face me "Ok what'ssss your game here? I know you had a hand in thissss sssso give me one good reasssson why I sssshouldn't kill you right now?" He threatened, activating his weapon and taking a step towards me.

Internally I was slightly nervous but I couldn't let that show. "I swear I had no hand in ordering the assassination, but I learnt of it from a trusted source. I know the loss of these three are a massive blow to your faction. But I have a proposition for you?" I replied calmly and non-threateningly even though I was lying through my teeth.

The LT lowered the chainsaw and looked around, probably not wanting his minions to see him making deals with a human. "Ok human, what is it you want to proposssse?" He asked in a whisper.

"Well if I'm not mistaken, the three corpses around us are your chief financier, supplier and leader. I and my employers can supply you with all the Lien and equipment you need to wage an all out war against Vale, and I'm sure no one will mind if you become leader of the faction. All I ask in return is that those under you complete a few jobs I need done, I'm in need of manpower and you're in need of money and weapons. We both win in this arrangement." I replied, hoping I hadn't miscalculated the snake's willingness to work with me.

The LT stroked his chin, I could see his body language was still set ready for combat so I tried to appeal to him personally. "If you join me... I'll promise to get you the opportunity to kill Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the SDC at some point in the future." I added on, knowing that no _White Fang_ fanatic would refuse that opportunity.

The LT thought about my generous offer before nodding in agreement "I accept your termssss, but know thissss: If I don't my sssshot at the Sssschnee, then I'll come for your blood." The LT said menacingly.

"Good, I assure you that you'll get your chance. Now send your faction's members to this location, their work begins immediately." I ordered, lighting another cigar just as the sounds of gunfire and explosions rang out from the parking lot now lit by flames.

"Well it looks like your men got the revenge they were after. Good. This night just got better." I said as I turned to leave the bloody scene, glad to be finally rid of the snipers and of Simon.

**Moments after the shooting, Parking Lot. Simon's PoV: **

"holy shit Simon! You really fucked him up... he aint going to make it but you've certainly made it a slow and painful end for that guy." Shauno commented, his tone somewhat disgusted though I wasn't sure if it was disgust at the blood and gore or the fact I had missed the agreed upon target area for the shots.

"Shut it Shauno. I couldn't stop the shakes from throwing my shot off." I retorted as I jumped off the roof and into the boot of the SUV, my hands still shaking quite bad.

"Never done something like this have you? calmly and coldly Sniping from a distance with all the time in the world is a lot different than going toe to toe in an adrenaline fuelled fight. Take my advice: try to forget it, it doesn't matter how just push whatever you saw through that scope out of your memory." Kale warned.

"I'll admit the pace here is way too slow for my liking... I honestly do prefer getting stuck into a good fight where I don't have time to study or memorise their faces or their wedding rings. Though personally I would have loved to be done with killing people and Faunus for good when I came here, I did this very reluctantly. How do you guys do it?" I asked as I shakily put my sniper rifle back in its carry case.

The sniper's looked to each other and shrugged "Practice, having to do it more times than we can count and the most important method: being complete assholes to everything and everyone." The pair said in sync, their tones deadpanned and jaded.

"Well that explains your personalities, and here I thought you two were just naturally like that." I said with a forced chuckle.

"Hey is it so hard to believe that we once were actually nice guys?" Shaun replied sarcastically.

"That is so unbelievable it aint even funny." I replied with a mocking serious face, but honestly glad the pair where helping me put my mind elsewhere.

With our equipment packed away, Kale got back into the driver's seat and started the engine. "Ok guys, let's get out of here before the animals work out we're up here." he commented.

"Ok I'm coming." I replied as I jumped out of the boot of the SUV and walked to the back seat, I heard an engine of another car coming up to our level. "Hey Kale, looks like those two intelligence guys. Maybe they got additional orders?" I said through the open window of the SUV.

"Fair enough, let's see what these guys want" Kale answered as he opened his door to go see the agents. I placed my sniper rifle into the SUV and prepared to jump in when something caught my eye.

Turning I saw one of the agents climb through the sunroof on their SUV, a anti-tank rocket in his hands. "What the fuck! Shauno GET OUT NOW!" I yelled to the sniper who was in the front seat. I reached in and grabbed my rifle's carry case as the rocket was launched.

Several things happened in that moment: The driver of the other SUV popped out his window and fired a _Death Adder _SMG at Kale, striking him several times in the torso and arms. The 2nd assailant fired his rocket at out SUV as I grabbed Shaun by the scruff of his neck and I jumped away from the doomed vehicle and scrambled behind a thick reinforced concrete pillar just in time not to be caught in the deadly fireball and shrapnel storm.

"Fuck... IT'S A TRAP!" I yelled. Peeking around the corner I saw a motionless Kale laying face down in an ever expanding pool of his own blood.

"KALE!" Shaun screamed, panic filling his voice. Shaun instantly pulled the pistol that hung at his waist and ran out into the open to retrieve his 'brother'.

"Shauno!" I yelled and instantly followed, placing my sniper on the ground and drawing my gun staff, peppering the SUV with flechettes, trying to draw attention away from a frantic Shauno who was now trying to drag his much larger and bulkier friend to safety.

The enemy standing through the sunroof had dropped his spent rocket launcher and had picked up a machine gun and was now firing at me. The SUV's engine roared and it took off towards me, obviously with the intent of running me down. I collapsed my staff and placed it in its holster on my back before charging at the armoured SUV, extending the blades in my gauntlets as I did. I was angry, I let my anger fuel my aura and sharpen my focus. A split second before the SUV and I collided, I used my semblance to slow the SUV down and I jumped, tucking my legs ready to spring off the bonnet and up onto the roof with mid air summersault. Everything returned to normal speed as I hit the roof in a crouching position and lunged forward, plunging my gauntlets into the chest cavity assailant who was standing through the sunroof. Despite having been shaken by killing in such cold blood mere moments ago, but now having seen my friend cut down by enemy fire I had a blood lust for those who had caused Kale's pain, I had no qualms with killing them painfully. I hauled the now dead enemy out of the sunroof and tossed him over the side before jumping through the sunroof and into the SUV, the driver had begun swerving but too late to stop me.

I reached around the driver's seat and using one hand to jerk his head back in order to expose the neck, the other ran its blade across his throat, coating the windscreen and dashboard in blood. I let the now lifeless assailant fall forward and I opened the door to exit, grabbing a first aid kit that had been lying on the back seats floor. I saw Shauno in hysterics, dashing over I had my scroll out and handed it to Shauno "I'll take over, you call Gregory!" I ordered as Shauno took the scroll into his bloodied hands to make the call.

"Kale can you hear me?" I asked the wounded sniper who only grunted in reply. "Well I'll take that as a yes." I replied, trying to sound like I was in control of myself.

I lifted up Kale's shirt and saw 6 holes in his chest, all of which were pouring large amounts of blood. _'Fuck... no no NO! I' m NOT losing my friend like this!'_ I thought as I rummaged through the first aid kit and took out several rolls of compression bandages and a painkilling injection. I placed the needle in Kale's arm and injected the painkiller, hoping it would help ease my friends pain. I removed Kale's shirt and slowly rolled him over to look for exit wounds, seeing all 6 exit wounds in his back and breathed slightly easier seeing that all of them had missed the spine.

"Simon, Gregory is on his way with the _Head Hunters_. No idea why he was with them but right now I'm not caring." Shauno said as he pocketed my scroll before kneeling next to me. "Will he live?" Shauno asked, genuine heartbreak and fear in his voice.

"No Idea Shauno, I'm not a Doctor, nor am I a god!" I replied frustrated.

Shaun nodded and as I held the barely living Kale up slightly, Shauno began wrapping the compression bandages over his wounds, trying to stop the blood flow. We were about half finished when I heard voices: angry, vengeful voices.

"I think we have company Shaun, and it aint Gregory! You keep looking after Kale, I'm going to go meet our newcomers." I said as I drew my gun staff and loaded a fresh magazine of flechettes into it.

I walked out past the wrecks of the SUV's and towards the ramp. Coming up the ramp I saw about a dozen armed _White Fang_ soldiers, who upon seeing me froze momentarily before aiming their guns at me and fired. I lunged left and skidding to a stop as I hit the ground, a trail of tracer fire following me. Upon stopping I instantly took off at full pace towards the group of militant Faunus. I didn't dodge or duck, I just ran as fast as I could to cut into the _White Fang_ who were here to kill my friends. As I got near I lunged forward and did a handspring into the middle of their group, slashing around in a circle with the forward blade of my staff as I landed, cutting 3 of the enemies 2 of which were fatal though. Standing I held my staff like a pike and thrust forward, right into a _White Fang_ soldier's abdomen. I pulled it out and instantly thrust it back as far as I could behind me, impaling another one in the thigh severing his femoral artery as I retracted my blade.

By now the Fang had drawn their swords or had pulled back to continue using rifles and pistols at a distance. Three Faunus charged in at different directions. I charged one, blocking the downward slash he attempted and pushed him back, following up with a roundhouse kick before I wheeled on the 2nd Faunus to my right, horizontally slashing with all my body weight as I turned. This particular Faunus seemed to be quite skilled as they jumped and used my own blade as a springboard to launch themselves behind me, instantly retaliating by slashing across my back. I howled in pain as the dust coated blade tore through my Aura and sliced the skin in my back.

Enraged I turned on the soldier and sliced at them in a diagonally upwards strike which they dodged easily by jumping back and I used the gap to jump back and attack the two other _White Fang _goons that were trying to tag team me. They came in together: one to each side of me and swung horizontally at me, one towards my already cut back, specifically my lower back and the other at my upper chest. I activated my semblance and dived forward under the blade coming towards my chest. I lost control of my landing and rolled several metres, but managed to keep a grasp on my staff. The two _White Fang_ who had tried to double team me, couldn't stop their swings in time, having not expected me to be able to escape like I did and inadvertently killed each other.

I tried to get up but my back flared in pain as I used my back muscles. The _Fang_ members who had kept their guns out had already trained them on me and began firing. I scrambled painfully behind a pillar and forcibly dragged myself up against the pillar and set my staff into its gun mode. I turned out and leaned against the pillar as I let fly at the 8 remaining _White Fang_ soldiers. Three fell under my initial fire before the rest could take cover behind pillars or duck down the ramp to the next level and began popping out from cover only to fire a few rounds off and duck back down.

I edged forward, ignoring the burning sensation in my back. One more _White Fang _popped out to fire at me but I was too quick and he fell to the ground: 7 flechettes puncturing his face mask and skull. "Come out you cowards! You want to harm my friends then you got to go through me first!" I screamed, my Aura flaring which thankfully made the pain in my back begin to subside.

The _White Fang_ soldiers seemed to take offence at me calling them cowards as they all emerged almost simultaneously. Guns trained on me or swords at the ready. I stepped forward, gun staff aimed at the Faunus. It was 7-1 but I wasn't going to let any of these goons get anywhere near Kale. _'Please live Kale... I need you mate!'_ I thought as I began firing my gun staff at the Faunus. Those who were wielding rifles ducked back behind pillars and back at me, while the swordsmen charged me, circling around to surround me. I kept my eye on the one who'd slashed my back who was hanging back slightly more than the others.

I saw that one of them was wounded, a flechette stuck in his shoulder, probably lodged in the ball of his shoulder. Running at him, he tried to swing his sword one handed, as the other hung limp. Blocking his strike I kicked him in the groin, causing him to bend over in pain, his weapon dropping to the ground. I went to plunge my staff's blade into his bent over form but as I went to execute the kill strike, my weapon was knocked away by the same Faunus that had injured me. Growling I launched my steel capped boot into the kneeling Faunus' throat, rupturing his windpipe before I turned on the remaining three swordsmen.

The swordsmen all lunged away as the gunmen opened fire on me. I knew I was running low on Aura but I couldn't dodge all the bullets, I blocked most but I felt something hot enter my lower abdomen, near my waist... Ignoring the pain I forced myself to keep going I charged the nearest swordsman. We traded several blows all of which being dodged or blocked, a 2nd swordsman joined in and I was in constant movement to get one blade to block one attacker while managing to position the other to attack the other, it was taking all my strength, speed and Aura to just keep up with them. I felt another bullet enter me, this time through the right thigh, this caused me to collapse to my knees. One of the swordsmen kicked my staff away which made me fall to the ground completely, my Aura almost completely spent.

I'd not been in a position this hopeless since my fight against Schwarzer, except this time the ones who saved me then were now in just as dire straits. I could hear the popping of Shauno's pistol and I heard a scream as he found his mark on one of the advancing _White Fang_ soldiers. I saw the expert swordsman stand over me, his sword raised. "Time to die little one. You fight well so I give you quick, honourable death." He said grimly.

As He swung down I used the very last ounce of my Aura to use my semblance and begin a lunge at my would-be executioner, my gauntlets leading as the blades extended. The swordsman was caught off guard as the two cold steel blades entered his torso, dropping his sword the swordsman collapsed. Turning to grab my staff I heard the roar of a Bullhead's engine and the distinctive sound of its door gun. _'Gregory... you made it'_ I thought. I had absolutely no energy and I just collapsed on top of the expert swordsman, drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Medic! Alpha-3 Get over here!" I heard someone call as footsteps boomed towards me. The voice was old and grizzled, much like Kruger's is.

_'They must both be as ancient as each other'_ My mind managed to think through the haze of pain. I felt a needle enter my neck.

"This ought to help you kid, don't worry... you'll make it yet." I heard the old man say in a calming tone. I tried to open my eyes but my body was no longer obeying the commands my mind gave it.

I heard a 2nd set of footsteps approach "I'm here sir, now let me see what we have here." I heard a female voice say.

_'Heh, female head hunters? Man and I thought Weiss was scary enough.'_ I thought humouredly.

"Deep cut to the back, two bullet wounds: 1 to the bowel area and the other to the back of the right thigh, I can't do too much for any of these injuries... all my other supplies are with Leon right now trying to keep that other poor bastard alive. Thomas, mind carrying this one to the Bullhead? I need to get back to Leon and the other patient." I heard the female _Head Hunter_ say in the strictly clinical fashion I remember my father speak in when he was working.

_'Oh daddy, mummy... look what I've become without you. A messed up teenager strung up in a web of lies, secrets and death. I miss you so much... I've come to terms with the fact that we shall not meet again, not yet anyway but I still miss you both.'_ I thought, my thoughts becoming incoherent from the painkillers.

"Ok kid let's get you out of here... rest easy now, the painkillers will put you to sleep any moment. Have no fear... you'll live to fight another day cobber." I heard the _Head Hunter_ referred to as 'Thomas' say as he picked me up and carried me over to the waiting Bullhead.

I felt the slight shakes of the Bullhead as I was placed in a stretcher aboard, I could hear two more people get on. I recognised the female _Head Hunter_ who I assumed now was a medic and I also recognised Shaun's voice but their voices were distant and quiet. Slowly everything went blank and I sunk into the blackness.

**A/N:** Well... this was certainly a thing. I had intended this chapter to mainly show how I think Roman came to acquire the _White Fang's_ assistance and then it became... well you know.

Will Kale Live? Will Gregory and Simon be able to work out what caused this cluster fuck to happen? That and other questions shall be answered in my next chapter.

**xThatOnePersonx:** I know I know, don't even say it... I know I'm a dick to fictional characters (and also to my readers who get attached to them... I'm so very sorry please forgive me for this!). You told me this before I wrote this chapter and I'm sure I've only succeeded in proving you right.

I'll do my best to have the next chapter done in a couple days... just so no one begins flipping out wondering if Kale lives or dies. -CC signing off.


	37. To Save a Friend

**A/N: **I'd just like to apologise for this chapter taking a few weeks instead of a couple of days. It was delayed for several reasons: At first it was writer's block and then I got swamped by university work. But I'd like to thank you all for being very patient and waiting for this chapter, I really appreciate it.

So I got a request from a guest reviewer **DownTownAlpha** requesting more fluff... Well I think Simon's current predicament will give plenty of opportunity for fluff next chapter, however just a reminder that fluffy writing isn't my strongpoint at all but that won't stop me from trying if my readers so request it.

I've decided to not keep to trying to upload 1 chapter a week, university is just too demanding (I have written 2x2500 and 1x3500 essay's between the time when I uploaded the last chapter and now) so I have decided to just write what I can, when I can. It may mean less chapters going up, but it also means you'll be spared cliff-hangers for the most part. -CC Signing on

**Chapter 36: To Save a Friend. The Parking Lot, Cipher-9's PoV:**

I looked over the scene: two destroyed SUVs and over a dozen corpses, two of which looked to be Intelligence Agents. I shook my head and cursed under my breath. "Robert... What happened? Why were they here to begin with?" I asked the _Head Hunter _Officer: Captain Robert Clay (Codenamed Alpha-1): Officer Commanding of _Alpha Team_.

Lifting up his balaclava Clay looked to Gregory."No Idea Sir, that will be a question to ask the survivors when we return to Fort Amada" Capt. Clay replied as he turned to oversee how his remaining men were doing with the cleanup.

"Well they certainly did something to piss off the _White Fang_... and my guess is that something went down in the park, judging from the fact they all have sniper rifles." Gregory replied, beginning to try and piece together why his friends were fighting for life.

Clay looked around at the position of the destroyed SUV that the trio had used and stroked his chin "I do have to agree there, given their skill sets and equipment. Alpha-5! Front and Centre!" The Captain bellowed, almost instantly a tall, lanky soldier was in front of him with a cocky grin on his face and a customised sniper rifle slung across his back. This was Alpha-5, Alpha Team's Sniper. "Check the park, look for evidence of an assassination" Clay ordered.

The masked sniper nodded and unslung his rifle, turning around to face out towards the park. Looking though his scope the youngest member of Alpha team saw the handy work of Simon and the snipers "Yep, three corpses down there, looks like headshots by the amount of blood, they were left where they dropped... guess whoever else was down there came up here to die." Alpha-5 commented with a tone of approval.

"Zip it 5"Clay commanded "I think I get the picture." The Captain finished silencing his subordinate.

It was then that a pistol shot rang out and everyone hit the ground, rifles at the ready. "What was that? _Head Hunters _sound off!" Clay yelled out to the two remaining soldiers under his command that remained here.

"Sorry Sir, was just me. One of these guys were still alive... had his throat crushed by the looks of it so I put him out of pain." Came the explanation for the gunshot from the 2nd in command and by far the eldest and most secretive of Alpha Team, I knew the names of the other 4 members, but not Alpha-2 who only went by that codename or by his rank of Master Sergeant.

"Sir you can't just kill prisoners! There's laws about that!" Came the agitated voice of Alpha Team's conscience/demo expert, Alpha-4

"I never heard him surrender, therefore not a prisoner." Came the simple, logical reply of Alpha-2.

Alpha-4 threw his arms up in disgust and went back to stacking bodies while searching them for weapons or intelligence. "Keeper's going to have a fucking fit over this one, he didn't like that big car chase the other week, he certainly aint going to like hearing two of his agents went rouge and died." Alpha-4 commented.

I had been trying to avoid that fact, but now it had been commented upon I could not ignore the dead people looking like _Vale Intelligence_ agents. Walking over to where the pair and their equipment had been set aside, separate from the _White Fang_ dead, I knelt down and lifted the balaclava of them both and took photos of them on my scroll before making a call on it.

"Watcher-3, it's Cipher-9. I need you to run these faces through our databanks, try and find a match among current and former agents." I ordered, not even giving the young Watcher a chance to greet me.

"Right away Cipher, I'll contact you with the results shortly. Also, we're dispatching a containment team to make sure nothing is left for the police or media." Came the reply and the link shut off without any exchange of goodbyes or pleasantries.

Turning around I rubbed my temples in worry, something had gone terribly wrong and now Simon: the last person I had left that I could consider family after having been orphaned and seeing my sister killed by the _White Fang_ was at deaths door. _'If I ever get my hands on whoever got this I'm going to rip their arms out of their sockets!'_ I thought angrily as out of anger I booted the corpse in front of me.

I heard someone clear their throat behind me and I saw the Master Sergeant standing behind me, Simon's scroll clutched in his hand "Took this out of his pocket as I was carrying him over to the Bullhead, might have some of the answers you're seeking Cipher."

I took the scroll and opened it, seeing that there was a password to it. Sighing I linked it to my own scroll and let the hacking programs do its thing. "Password detected: PREDACON" My scroll said as it opened up Simon's scroll for me to look at.

Ignoring the missed calls from Weiss, Nyanza and especially the ones from Velvet I went into his messages and saw one from me. _'Odd, I did not send Simon a message and there is no sign of the missed calls from me on here!'_ I thought as pieces began falling into place. Seeing that the scroll said to meet at Junior's for an _'Alternate Tasking' got_ my mind ticking over as my scroll beeped, it was Watcher-3.

"Cipher, I ran those faces through the database. It seems these two men were indeed intelligence agents, but they were thrown out and were under investigation for spying and treason. These two if court were looking at a one way ticket to the gallows. I think someone offered them a way out of Vale in return for killing Simon and the Snipers." Watcher-3 explained.

"Ok thanks for that, new task. I want to know who was on duty in the CTC around about lunch time, look for any of them that maybe in financial trouble or are having problems with gangs or law enforcement. I suspect someone working around the communications hub planted a message to Simon and the snipers. I've got a few visits to make." I replied in an ice cold voice. _'Junior you better have some answers for me'_ I thought as I shut off my scroll and turned to see the remaining elements of Alpha team finish going through the bodies for anything of intelligence value. I also saw Alpha-2 looking over one of the swords that had been retrieved with utmost curiosity.

"Find a new toy there?" I asked as Alpha-2 looked it over closely.

"Yeah, kind of. The crystals that the dust imbued in this blade are the same type used in APR rounds, so pretty much this blade could in theory pierce an aura, no matter how strong it is. Odd thing is, these crystals are restricted... each one mined is tracked where ever it goes due to its unique ability to go through aura like it isn't even there. The fact that the _White Fang_ is getting these crystals is most worrying." The Master Sergeant replied as he picked up the sword and took it for himself.

"Great, and I thought the Captain was the weapon obsessed one of the group." I heard Alpha-5 complain as he sat down by a pillar, cradling his sniper rifle.

Before anyone could make another remark, I heard the rumbling of engines surrounding the parking lot and entering the park. "Well guess the cleanup crew has arrived, about time... this is not what I had in mind when we were told our mission was to _'clean up Intelligence's mess'_. Alpha-5 once again bitched.

"Knock it off Auburn, or I'll knock your block off." Alpha-2 warned.

I saw several SUV's and vans come up to our level, out of one I saw Watcher-3 exit, a short scrawny coloured man who couldn't be more than early 20's with a large scroll in his hand. "Cipher, I did what you asked and of the people on shift at the CTC and Vale Communications Hub, only 1 person really stood out as being the one you're looking for. " Watcher-3 said, handing his scroll to me.

"Gary Granite, 20, drop out of Signal, struggling financially, lost his partner, underworld connections. Yeah this is our guy, send a Fixer to go fetch him for me." I replied, handing the scroll back and beginning to walk to one of the SUVs, Alpha-2 following me, the dust covered sword now slung over his back.

Getting into the driver's seat and Alpha-2 into the passenger's I made my way out of the parking lot, towards the Red Light district. "So I guess you're out here doing grunt work to avoid the inevitable grilling from the Keeper?" Alpha-2 asked as he relaxed back into the seat.

"No, Keeper doesn't scare me. There is someone much, much worse that I'm trying to avoid." I replied, hoping that this particular person doesn't find out what transpired here until I had some answers to give him.

**Third Person PoV, Vale:**

"Yang, I really don't know why you seem so persistent to spend so much time with me outside of class." Blake asked, flattered that the Blonde had wanted to spend time with her. But also annoyed that she didn't seem to have any privacy whatsoever anymore.

"Because, you're so anti-social and quiet at school. I think you're just not used to being around so many strangers, so I thought it better to get to know you away from school where I'd hoped you'd be more open to conversation." Yang replied, walking backwards in front of Blake, to face her as she spoke.

"By taking me out to dinner and then a movie? That doesn't really sound like something friends do, that's more of a date." Blake replied, rolling her eyes at the playful Blonde.

"It only is if you consider it as such." Yang replied instantly, with a playful wink.

Blake managed to catch herself before she blushed, or worse yet let her ears twitch in embarrassment. Blake sighed internally, _'She'd never accept me for who I really am, as much as I don't trust him I really do emphasise with Simon as neither of us can show our true colours without scorn'_ but managed to keep her face level, even give a small smirk, just to keep Yang happy. "I think I'll pass on considering it a date, for now." Blake finally answered, much to Yang's dismay, but also keeping up hope due to the last two words.

"Oh well, still totally worth it even if you won't call it a date." Yang replied, still walking backwards.

"You're going to hit something you know that Yang, and when you do… I shall laugh." Blake said, kind of hoping to see Yang actually walk into something and bruise the almost infinite ego the girl seemed to have.

"Oh I know I won't hit anything, you'll warn me like the awesome _partner_ you are." Yang replied, an instant before she walked into a light post.

At this, Blake just began to laugh and laugh "I guess you Yanged your head didn't you." Blake said as she nearly doubled over laughing at the Blonde who was now rubbing her very sore head as well as laughing at Blake's pun.

"I knew I've been having an effect on you." Yang replied as she decided to walk like a normal person for once.

"So where exactly are you taking me?" Blake asked, wondering what the Blonde had planned.

"Just to crash at an old friend's place, Gary works in Vale and said that I'm always welcome at his place if I'm in Vale." Yang replied as she turned down another street.

"And you're sure he won't mind if you bring a friend?" Blake asked, assuming that this Gary guy probably just wanted Yang to come over late at nights.

"Sure he won't mind at all." Came the blissful reply of Yang as she reached a gate and opened it, Blake following.

Yang got to the door and stopped, instead of knocking, she activated her gauntlets, loading a round into each one's chamber. "Odd, he never leaves his doors unlocked let alone unhinged!" Yang said warily as readied to kick the door down.

Blake drew _Gambol Shroud_ and stood behind the Blonde Brawler. Yang kicked the door down and charged in, gauntlets ready to spew buckshot at any invaders. Blake followed her partner on edge, using her hidden cat ears to listen for any noises or warning that there might be an ambusher. Yang moved forward into the small kitchen, looking around and seeing a note pinned to the fridge. Pulling it down Yang looked it over before sitting in a chair, sighing sadly.

"Apparently he has left for Vacuo, for a _Vacation_" Yang explained, but Blake knew what she meant. He was running from something, or someone. It was common for people to run away to the most impoverished kingdom in Remnant, unlike the other Kingdoms, Vacuo didn't have large deposits of dust or other precious minerals. It didn't have the large, well-funded police or intelligence services that the other kingdoms did, thus a perfect place to hide or be left alone.

The two girls heard the door open again and footsteps coming down the hall, readying their weapons Blake peaked around and saw two masked figures with guns edging down the hall, Blake couldn't tell if they'd seen her but they both stopped and raised their weapons. "Come out girls, this is _Vale Intelligence_. We know you're there, we watched you arrive." An order was called out, not threateningly, but firmly and with a hint of nervousness.

Blake looked over to Yang "Your friend is mixed up in some pretty serious stuff if _VI_ is after him." The black haired huntress remarked, hiding her nervousness that she was in fact wanted by _VI_ for things she had done in the _White Fang_.

Yang nodded and disengaged her gauntlets, realising that violence here would bring consequences to not only her, but her dad and to Ruby… Yang wouldn't allow that so this one time she didn't let her anger come out. Stepping out, Blake threw _Gambol Shroud_ to the ground, their hands above their heads.

One of the agents stepped forward and frisked both girls for hidden weapons while the other hung back, his weapon raised. "Ok ladies, why don't you tell us why you're here this late at night?" The Agent that had stayed his distance asked, his weapon lowing slightly as his partner signalled the girls were now disarmed.

"Well Gary is a _good_ friend of mine. And well I was bringing this lovely lady with me to _meet _him." Yang replied in a tone that was more suggestive than Blake would have liked.

'_This woman's perversity knows no bounds'_ Blake thought as she heard quiet chuckles from the agents.

"Well if he is such a good friend, then you might know what kind of people he associated with?" One of the agents asked.

Yang considered lying, but Blake nudged her side lightly, coaxing her to tell the truth. Sighing Yang looked down. "Gary was involved in a lot of underworld sort of stuff, mainly running money or using his hunter training to act as a hired thug, he wasn't picky about who he worked for." Yang replied, thinking that Gary had used his talents to harm someone important.

The agent nodded before continuing. "Ok, what about his work? Did he ever speak about that?"

Yang looked curiously at the agent "Yeah, he worked in the CTC and the Intra-Vale Communications Hub." Yang answered, confirming what the agents already knew. "Now do you guys mind telling me why you're after Gary?" Yang continued, causing Blake to facepalm that the Blonde was making demands of the agents.

"Can't say, classified. Now you two should probably run along." The agent nearer to the door ordered, it was a warning to get out of here before they were taken in for questioning.

Yang was ready to stand her ground until she got the exact answers she wanted, but once again Blake was the more level headed of the pair grabbed Yang's hand and almost sprinted out the door, dragging Yang with her. Once the pair were out the front gate Blake pushed Yang away. "That was stupid Yang, shaping up to them like that!" Blake half yelled.

Yang looked gobsmacked that Blake was suddenly so hostile. "Hey, I was trying to defuse the situation. I know fully well what _Intelligence_ can do, if I appeared playful and cooperative they'd leave us alone, it is the same with cops." Yang replied, her tone losing all edge after the first sentence.

Blake rolled her eyes "Ok then miss street-smart, what do we do now?" The black haired girl asked in a snarky tone, her arms crossed.

"About Gary?" Yang replied, beginning to think up a plan to find her friend.

"No, about the fact we've no longer got a place to stay?" Blake deadpanned. "Your friend can handle himself, and I don't think it is our place to get involved in his transgressions." Blake shot back, resisting the urge to smack Yang.

"Oh, well… umm…" Yang began to stutter.

"Don't worry…. I have an old family friend who owns a bookshop" Blake replied as she began walking down the street back the way they had come, Yang following behind, worried for her friend.

**Junior's Club, Cipher-9's PoV:**

It had been a silent drive to the club, Alpha-2 sat silently, going over his new dust imbued blade while I ran over what I knew in my head, trying to fill in the gaps with assumptions based off what I knew about Simon's past. We were about two blocks from Junior's when my scroll beeped and I patched it through to the hands free set in the car. It was _Fixer-66_, the agent sent to retrieve Gary Granite.

"Please tell me you have some good news." I snarled, in desperate need for answers.

"By the time we arrived, he was gone…. The house had been abandoned. We did find two of his girlfriends there though, apparently they didn't get the memo about him doing the Harold Holt, we asked them a few questions and sent them on their way." Came the Fixer's reply.

"Why didn't you bring them in for more intense questioning?" I asked indignantly.

"Well they were Beacon Students, I don't think Ozpin would appreciate us _disappearing_ two of his students, considering one is fighting for his life already because of us." Fixer-66 replied coldly, reminding me of the fact that sooner or later I'm going to have to front up to Ozpin and explain why Simon was currently at Fort Amada in surgery on the verge of death. The very thought scared me shitless.

"Ok, good point. Search his house, I'll meet you back at Amada for Debrief." I ended the call and smashed my hands on the steering wheel.

"Well that went about as well as the last time my daughter brought a boy home." Alpha-2 commented from the passenger seat.

"Fuck you." I growled as I pulled up behind the club.

"What we aren't going inside? What if I wanted a drink?" Alpha-2 commented again, obviously getting great enjoyment out of my torture.

"No wonder your men think you're an asshole." I grunted as I walked up to the back door and Alpha-2 pulled down his laughing skull mask.

"I'm an asshole because that is my job, I'm a Senior NCO." Came the cool, heartless reply as the Master Sergeant stepped out of sight to wait for Junior.

I knocked on the door and one of the suited thugs came out, I stood calmly, hiding my intense anger "Mind going and getting your boss, I need to speak with him and I don't have much time." I ordered firmly.

The thug nodded and wheeled on his heel to go and fetch Junior, while I waited outside flexing my knuckles and arms in case this turned violent. A few moments later Junior appeared, I dragged him outside and slammed the door shut.

"Ok Junior, who gave you the information about Simon and the Sniper's mission tonight?!" I ordered, grabbing Junior by the scruff of his neck.

"Hey, hey. What's this about? This is no way to treat a business partner." Junior half yelled.

"Well you sent my friends into a death trap. It wasn't a real op, someone was trying to kill them. Tell me who gave you the information about that mission, NOW!" I growled shoving Junior once more.

"Ok, ok. It was two _Vale Intelligence_ guys. Said they were working the anti-Fang op and needed help, specifically naming Kale, Shaun and Simon as the help they wanted." Junior replied, slightly fearful as he saw the laughing skull mask in the corner of his eye.

I let the information broker out of my grip and took out my scroll, bringing up the photos of the dead rouge agents. "Are these the two who approached you?" I asked coldly.

Looking at the photo Junior nodded "Yeah that was them, came in around lunch time today and handed me a package with all the information and payment for the job, 25,000 Lien." Junior replied, causing me to punch the wall behind him.

"Give me one good reason not to let my Head Hunter friend here take your fat head as his prize!" I growled, now absolutely infuriated that my only leads to finding out who had done this were now dead or missing.

"Because I'm too valuable to kill?" Junior replied frantically as Alpha-2 slowly, threateningly withdrew his machete. "Ok, ok I beg you please just don't kill me…. I'll pull all my favours and contacts to find out what I can, just let me keep my head." Came the absolutely terrified plea as the chromed edge of the black painted blade touched the skin of Junior's neck.

"Good, see to it that I have results soon, because If I need to come back looking for info, I'm feeding you to the Head Hunter." I replied as I turned to leave, my mission a failure.

As Alpha-2 and I drove away I began writing my report in my head, filling in the gaps with assumptions based off what I knew of Simon's past. The only conclusion I could come to was the _Black Fist_ or a rival faction of the _White Fang_ trying to take out two birds with one stone. Both groups had reason to want Simon dead. Alpha-2 stayed silent for much of the trip back to Fort Amada just to the South-West of the City.

"You know Junior has probably rang Keeper to complain about how you treated him by now." Alpha-2 finally commented dryly about 10km from the Fort.

"Yeah, Like Keeper actually cares what Junior has to say." I retorted, knowing that the Keeper only begrudgingly goes to Junior for information and would love to shut him down and purge all the moles he had in Vale's government.

"He'll probably still berate you for taking this mission and tonight's events far too personally, you're a Cipher Agent, the coldest most emotionless people in existence." Alpha-2 replied, his tone that of a father scolding a misbehaving child.

"He can do as he pleases, so long as I find and flay alive whoever did this." I said. The conversation ending as I pulled towards the outer perimeter of Fort Amada. Alpha-2 produced his identification to allow us entry to the Fort, once in I drove right to the door of the medical wing, leaving Alpha-2 to deal with a very annoyed looking MP who was guarding the entrance and parking lot.

'_Come on Simon, you better be alive you little shit!'_ I thought as I saw Minder-27 talking with Shaun near the entrance, looking very grim indeed.

Walking slowly up to the pair I coughed to get their attention. "What's the news so far Minder?" I asked my comrade, choosing to not make Shaun explain how his friends are.

"Well Simon left surgery about 15 minutes ago, he will live and recover quickly with his Aura now fully replenished, and he'll still be out of it for another day or so until the meds wear of" came Minder's reply.

I nodded and suddenly felt a tight knot in my stomach "And what of Kale?"

Shaun was now looking at the ground, completely distraught. "We don't know yet… he's been in surgery since he got here and the docs say he has flat lined on the operating table three times already. But the doctors say if he lives to see morning, he should make it but the docs aren't confident he will make it till morning." Came Shaun's almost inaudible reply.

I nodded and clasped Shaun on the shoulder "From what Simon has told me of Kale, he's survived much worse up in Atlas." I said with false cheer, trying to reassure the sniper.

"We all have survived so much worse, especially Simon, guess he will have another scar to add to his collection, that slash across his back is going to leave a mark." Shaun commented, trying to take his mind off of Kale, the closest thing to family he has left.

"Well you know what they say, chicks dig scars." Minder commented as he leaned against a wall.

At this we all began laughing, it wasn't laughter of genuine happiness, but laughing was always better in these situations than crying.

"Say Cipher, you knew Simon before he joined _Rum Squad_, what was he like, you know, when you first met him?" Shaun asked.

I smirked "Well once he got over the shock of losing his entire life and settled into the training base, he was much as he is now: cocky, smartarsed, a natural born leader even if he won't admit it, and he was forever getting into multitudes of trouble for fighting or sneaking around at night stealing all manner of food, money and trinkets from the training staff, the trainers called him _Umbra_."

"Well that explains where he gets the names for his weapons from." Shauno chuckled, his voice hoarse and his eyes bloodshot, but a small spark of cheer appearing.

"Well his weapons are an extension and reflection of himself: When he was in the Fist and wanting to kill and destroy his weapon was the _Vengeful Shadow_. When he became the bodyguard to the snobby Schnee girl: his weapon reflected what he had become, the _Watchful Shadow_." I replied.

Shauno nodded and sat down against the wall, me taking a seat beside him, turning to Minder-27 "Mind going and getting us some coffee? Shaun and I got a few stories to swap me thinks." I ordered and for the rest of the night, Shauno and I sat and swapped stories of Simon, Kale, _Rum Squad_ and of the orphans in the training camp. We sat and waited, wondering if our brother in arms Kale would live to see the morning.

**24 hours Later, Fort Amada Medical Recovery Bay. Simon's PoV:**

My eyes flickered open to the almost blinding light of a medical bay, I might have thought I was dead had the place not smelled of disinfectant. I groggily looked around the room, I saw on two seats across from me were Gregory and Shauno, both dozing. Looking over I saw another bed and hooked up to a heart monitor and respirator was Kale, the rising of his chest and the beep of the heart monitor was all the reassurance I needed: We'd all lived, we'd all be going home from this one.

It felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my chest and I sighed in relief. I heard the door open and a woman in Head Hunter uniform came in, escorting two men: I recognised Ozpin as one of them. The other man was older, had a balding head and what little hair he did have was grey. His piercing blue eyes and hard, emotionless expression told a thousand stories and held a million secrets: This was the infamous and near invisible _Keeper_, head of _Vale Intelligence_. Both men looked quite sternly at the sleeping form of Gregory. Deciding to draw threat away from my friend I coughed and sat up exaggerating my pained groans to draw attention.

"Ahh Simon, you're awake. Just lay down, let Staff Sergeant Peach look you over first." Ozpin commented, turning away from Gregory.

I recognised the medic as the one who'd attended me on the night of the battle as she checked my vitals and gave me a fresh dosage of painkillers. "There, that should make your existence slightly more tolerable, you really know how to mangle your own body mate." Peach commented as she withdrew and nodded to Ozpin before leaving the room.

Ozpin strode closer to me while Keeper kept his distance, still looking thoroughly displeased however I couldn't tell if his displeasure was with me, Ozpin, Gregory or all three of us. "How are you this fine evening Mr Alexander?" Ozpin asked with a small smirk as he took a sip from his ever present coffee mug.

"Honestly, like I've just fought an Ursa with nothing but a rusty spoon." I replied, stating the obvious.

"Well at least your sense of humour has survived." Ozpin remarked.

"Yeah, guess I get to live to terrorise Beacon's staff another day." I replied, deciding to run with the sarcastic mood I found myself in.

"I'm sure Miss Goodwitch shall be thrilled. But before you go further down your sarcastic tangent, I have some rather serious questions I must ask you about last night." Ozpin replied, suddenly becoming very serious.

I gulped and looked past him to my sleeping friends. "Sure, ask away." I stuttered out.

"Good, now we've already spoken to your friends and it has become apparent that the events of last night were a deliberate and planned attempt on your life, Cipher-9 believes it was an attempt by the _Black_ _Fist_ to punish you for desertion. Do you agree with that assessment?" Ozpin asked, scepticism abundant in his voice.

"Well I've made plenty of enemies, and thanks to some idiot journalist, everyone knows I'm here. As for who'd be responsible for last night? The _Fist _seems the likely answer, they're the only ones I can think of who'd benefit from the deaths of myself, the snipers AND three very high-ranking _White Fang_ officials." I replied in a monotone, my head beginning to pound.

"Ok then, I'll take that under advisement." Came the arrogant, controlling tone of Keeper.

"Right then, well moving on. Did anything feel off to you about last night? Did nothing at all make you think it was a trap?" Ozpin pressed on with his questioning, ignoring the Keeper.

I tried to think back, but the pounding in my head just made it near impossible to remember any great details. "I'm sorry, I'm still getting my bearings, Mind if you ask me this again in a few hours?" I asked, really just wanting to sleep.

Ozpin smiled and nodded "I'm sure these questions can wait until you've been adequately rested. I shall be returning tomorrow for you to return to Beacon, you going missing would raise the suspicions of your teammates and friends. Rest well Mr Alexander." Ozpin said as he turned to leave, The Keeper following close behind.

I laid back, surprised that none of the conversation had awoken Gregory or Shaun. _'Poor fellas, probably didn't sleep for hours on end waiting for news.'_ My mind began to drift off into a restless and fitful sleep, filled with dreams of pain, death and loss that normally followed anytime I took a life.

**Unknown Location, Third Person PoV:**

Gary Granite had never been so terrified, even during his time at Signal he had never been this scared. Instead of sent to Vacuo with a lifetime's supply of Lien to lead a quiet, comfortable life. He had instead found himself bound, gagged and hooded. Transported to only Dust knows where. He could hear the muffled sounds of engines, but he couldn't tell if it was a car, train or Bullhead. Without warning the hood and gag were removed and he found himself in a bullhead, face to face with a wanted man: Roman Torchwick.

"Why Hello Gary, So nice of you to join me on this sojourn over the ocean." Came the sarcastic greeting as Roman lit a cigar.

"Th-this wasn't our deal Roman!" Gary managed to yelp.

"Oh, I know that. However my employer was impressed with your hacking skills, so they have asked me to deliver you a new offer for your services." Came the even more condescending reply from Roman.

"We-we-well What if I don't want to offer my services, what i-if I just want my Lien and ticket to Vacuo?" Gary replied, mustering all his defiance.

"Well if you're going to be like that, then feel free to exit the Bullhead, right now." Roman said, suddenly threateningly as the Bullhead's door opened and revealed about 500m below, the sparkling water of the ocean, just as Roman had said.

"OKAY, OKAY! I'll take your new job." Gary begged frantically, all defiance melting away.

"Good, that's what I was hoping you'd say." A new voice replied as appeared a black haired woman in a flowing red dress, imbued with golden dust patterns. "You're going to help me bring Vale to its knees."

**A/N: **Once again I do apologise for taking far too long to upload a new chapter, and I really will try to avoid doing that again. I hope you all enjoy this, and please express any comments you have about it in the Reviews of send a PM to me. Next chapter: Simon returns to Beacon. –CC Signing Off.


	38. Setting the Board

**A/N:** Hi all I'm feeling kinda dumb right now: Seems when I uploaded my last batch of rewrites I accidentally posted chapter 13 twice (taking over chapter: 12). It's been like that for a couple months…. If anyone notices anything else like that can they please let me know?

Now that's out of the way: On with the next Instalment of _From Hunted to Hunter_. For those who requested it: The Fluff is very much here in force, so enjoy –CC signing on.

**Chapter 37: Setting the Board. Saturday, Week 6. Fort Amada, Ozpin's PoV:**

Having visited Simon in the medical bay, Keeper and I made our way to a temporary office. Keeper sat behind the desk and stared me down. "So much for an _Incredible Time of Peace_ as the politicians say it is." He commented cynically.

"Well compared to periods of time that constituted the first two crusades, it is quite peaceful within the kingdoms and even more peaceful relations between each kingdom." I replied, pointing out that there was a peace of sorts.

"Yeah, and while the 12.5 million people who call the kingdom of Vale home think nothing can hurt them: there is basically a civil war going on in the shadows, it is the _Highlands War _all over but on a smaller but just as violent scale. And according to my sources it isn't just in Vale either." The Keeper retorted as he withdrew several files for show on the desk's projector.

I was genuinely surprised, I'd heard of no violence from Mistral or Vacuo. But nonetheless I watched curiously as a picture of a man who appeared to be late 50s or early 60s in a _Vacuo Militia_ uniform. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Ty Kruger, formerly a captain in the _Atlesian Military_ and the _Black Fist_. A few weeks ago, he and his squadron of Vacuo Desert Raiders hit a camp that contained stolen Atlesian Anti-Air missiles that destroyed a dust shipment. In that camp his men killed several dozen wastelanders, including 2 rouge hunters. The mission has been kept absolutely top secret. Since then several other shoot down incidents have happened in the deep desert all concerning dust transporters, which as of Monday will see the Desert Raiders sent to investigate the incidents in the deepest parts of the Vacuo desert." Keeper explained in a cold, analytical tone.

"Yes, I'm sure the events thousands kilometres away pertain greatly to you Keeper, but mind telling me why they matter to Vale as a whole?" I asked, not entirely sure where the spymaster was going with this.

"It is simple Ozpin: The Queen." Came the reply, one that I was dreading to hear.

Keeping my face level I eyed the picture of the Old Colonel on the projector. "You think this man, Kruger is working for the Queen, or that she manipulated the events to cause the raid on the camp?" I asked, taking another sip of my coffee, this particular cup having just a hint of caramel I noted.

"I don't know what if anything Kruger knows about The Queen, nor can I comment on his allegiances. But I can say is that it is certainly The Queen arming these rebels in Vacuo, she's flexing her muscles and I feel that this is only the beginning." Keeper replied, his tone one of foreboding.

"What makes you so sure it is her responsible for those launchers?" I asked, thinking that Keeper had finally lost it.

"Well who else could procure such advanced hardware, the men to operate them and put them in the middle of the vast wasteland that is Vacuo's desert? If it isn't her then it is the Atlesian Military, and I don't think Ironwood would do something like that, he has no interest in causing the deaths of innocents." Keeper replied, his logic flawless.

Taking another sip of coffee I stared down the Keeper, a man who while shrouded in mystery and lies had an aura of sincerity and truthfulness about him right now. "Why share this information? For all the years I've known you: you have NEVER given information or favours away for free." I replied sceptically.

"The threat posed by The Queen goes beyond favours or my preference for secrecy and independence from you and the Vale Council. This is about the future of all four Kingdoms and that means it will take everyone to stave it off: Me and my agents, you and your hunters, Ironwood and his armies, even that dusty old Qrow will have a part to play." Keeper replied, making it known that for once he was going to be cooperative and somewhat transparent.

I nodded and stood to leave "I'll return tomorrow to fetch my student, please refrain from any interrogations Keeper." I ordered firmly as I tapped my cane on the ground and walked out, deep in thought about the mysterious Queen and her plans for Vale, Vacuo and the rest of Remnant as well as making a note to talk to Simon about his old commander.

**Sunday Morning, Tukson's Book Trade. Blake's PoV:**

Having spent Friday night with Yang in the book shop, Tukson deciding it best he not be seen with me lest some _mutual friends_ find out he had been associating with a human. It had been a quiet, tense night as Yang had spent most of her time brooding in a corner about ways to find her friend Gary. Once Yang had returned to Beacon to spend some time with Ruby to cheer herself up with some videogames, some Tank game if I remembered correctly I returned to have some tea with Tukson.

"You're being quite risky coming back here Blake, very unlike you. So what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Tukson asked as he ushered me into the back door of his shop, keeping watch for watching eyes.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you and I do feel guilty about that after everything you did for me after father went to Atlas and mother was killed in the 2nd crusade." I replied to what could only be described as her adoptive father.

"Heh, no need to worry about me, it's been years since I've been in any danger." Tukson replied, lying right through his teeth.

I looked unconvinced and crossed my arms as I sat down at the table where two cups of tea were waiting.

"Right, yeah… Ok maybe just a little bit of danger, but it's nothing compared to the things that happened leading up to and following _Ruben Fields_. Blake as much as I love the company, I don't see why you had to risk your new found freedom to come see me. You got out of the _Fang, _you should be doing all you can to avoid anything to do with the _Fang_." Tukson said as he sat across from me, spooning some sugar into his cup.

"I know, but I felt I had to come check up on you. Without me you always found yourself in unimaginable mischief." I said with a small smile.

"Now, now…. That business with those wastelanders in Vacuo was NOT mischief, just a sporting challenge." Tukson replied, knowing full well what I was hinting at.

I raised an eyebrow "I hardly call riding a Wasteland Ursa like a rodeo bull to be sporting, more like recklessly stupid." Recalling an experience during my many travels with Tukson before he took over the book trade and I teamed up with Adam.

"Hey, those wastelanders said it was subdued and somewhat tamed." Tukson retorted defensively but also jokingly.

"You can't ever tame Grimm, I thought you'd know that by now." I shot straight back, smiling wider than I have in a long time as I took more tea.

"Yeah, yeah I learnt my lesson. Hmmm though to see you smiling again, maybe I should take it back up." Tukson replied, I knew he hated the way I had detached myself and withdrew into my shell so to speak.

"Please don't, you're getting much too old to be doing those sorts of things." I pleaded, knowing fully well he would probably do it.

Tukson began to chuckle "glad to know you're worried, at least someone cares for ole' Tukson."

"Well it was worry that brought me back here this morning actually." Replied, admitting my ulterior motive.

Tukson eyed me curiously and raised an eyebrow "Ok, have you heard something or discovered something that puts me in danger?" The older Faunus asked, now on edge.

"No, nothing like that Tukson. I've actually heard very little at all about the _White Fang_ since entering Beacon. I actually came here to ask, no beg you to leave as well. Make your escape somewhere and leave all the violence behind." I asked, an unusual amount of emotion filling my voice.

Tukson frowned and looked down at his tea "Oh how I'd love to get out, but the _White Fang_ have eyes everywhere and I'm in too important of a position for them to not notice I've suddenly gone off radar."

I looked at him pleadingly, I'd lost my mum and Father had not been heard from since the _Black Fist_ had all but destroyed Atlas' _White Fang_. Tukson looked at me and sighed "Blake, we're about the only family the two of us have left for each other, I'll try to find a way out. But Promise me that after today: you won't attempt to contact me, until I contact you. The _Fang_ has eyes everywhere and I'm amazed you weren't seen either time you came here. Once I've made my arrangements I'll contact you to put your mind at ease that I'm safe." Came the warm promise of Tukson.

After that we just chatted, sharing stories of things we'd been up to since I last saw him and how things were running the bookshop he'd always wanted to run. Tukson had been the one who'd introduced me to books as a young girl and a close friend of my parents.

"So Blake, tell me more about the girl you brought home with you? Out all night, you both looked hot and bothered when you arrived here, didn't know you swung that way." Tukson commented jokingly, but with a knowing look in his eye.

I raised an irritated eyebrow "Really? You think I have time for relationships at the moment, I'm a huntress." I retorted.

"Ahh but you're also a teenager, I was one as well a _very_ long time ago. I was only 16 when I met my first my first love… she was so beautiful, and a bigger rack than your fair blondie…"

"You stop that line of thought right there Tukson, also I feel sorry for any 16 year old girl who has to carry that amount of weight on her chest." I ordered, this was going down an avenue of questioning I did NOT want to go down.

Tukson just laughed at me "You're so very easy to tease Blake." The older Faunus commented as he broke into uncontrollable laughter. "I just meant this all as a joke but the blush upon your face tells me that it is so much more." He commented as I felt my cheeks heat up slightly, though I hold that my face flushed in annoyance and mild anger.

Tukson managed to control his laughter and look at his watch, his smile quickly dissipated to a frown "I got business to attend to soon, Blake you need to leave. Now!" He said firmly, leaving no room for arguments.

I nodded and stood, bowing my head in thanks for the tea, before Tukson opened the door he handed me a satchel "A few books I thought you'd like. I'll see you again once I'm safe, take care Blake." Tukson said as he ushered me out, his tone disturbed me by the finality it held but I brushed it aside. Tukson was a survivor and I was sure he'd make it out of all this just as I had done.

Walking back towards the Bullhead pads I walked in deep thought about everything Tukson and I had talked about, but the more I walked the more the teasing about Yang came to the fore. I'd never had a lot of friends or grew to trust or grew close to anyone in much of my life, it wasn't something I was able to do given how much death and deceit I'd been surrounded by but Yang from the short time I had known her had shown herself to be dependable, trusting and inclusive. She didn't discriminate against Faunus and even went out of her way to ward off several bullies, even a couple 3rd year students who were teasing a first year Faunus boy. I still thought Tukson was just trying to goad me by insinuating a romantic connection, but he had half a point: maybe I could find a real true friend and confidant in Yang, even if I held off on telling her of my heritage for now.

**Sunday Evening, Vacuo Airport. Ty Kruger's PoV:**

The one thing that surprises a lot of people new to Vacuo is just how cold it gets at night, most people here in the terminal for the Airship to Atlas were wrapped in thick coats and had blankets across their laps as they sat. Me however: the cold reminded me of home, of Atlas. I enjoyed the cold and it annoyed me greatly that I had to rug up and act like I was suffering, just to make sure I looked like I fit in. to conspicuous was something I did not want tonight. I looked to my watch, I was early but I wanted to scan the area for any hint that I or Major Silver had been tailed.

I continued waiting for another 30 minutes, grabbing a coffee as I did until I saw entering the terminal in civilian clothes the now retired Major Antonio Silver on his way to his new job as a professor at the Atlesian University teaching a class on international relations. I stood and walked over to greet my former 2nd in command. As we met I shook his hand, as we shook he took possession of the data stick that I'd concealed in my palm as I'd walked over to him.

"I've never been to Atlas before, and not to mention it is winter there… I'm going to need another coat." Silver complained as he shoved his hands in his pockets, concealing the data stick.

"I'm sure my colleague David can ensure you get the best thermal gear available when you meet him at Atlas U." I replied as I picked up one of his cases and walked towards the boarding ramp.

"Explain why I got to make the trip to the frozen wasteland? David is your friend, I'm sure you'd be more easily able to work with him." Silver queried, not impressed that I'd essentially ordered him to terminate his promising career for my little mission.

"Well I'm a well-known face in Atlas, as is David. If I'm seen with him then it will almost certainly raise suspicions. You on the other hand are anonymous there and if you meet with him then you'll be just be a teacher having a meeting with a student about some assignment or whatever." I replied, only for Silver to glare at me.

I sighed and leaned in close to whisper to my friend "Antonio, I know you basically trashed your career but this is much bigger than you, me, the militia, Vacuo… this is about all of Remnant. Something big is coming, we all know it is with the Raiders being sent deeper and deeper into the desert to hunt those AA launchers, the massive jump in violence in the wastelands towards our supply lines, the Atlesian markings on the SAM launchers. Whatever is on that data stick is the key. David knows some top grade hackers and some contacts around the Atlesian military, it is imperative that this is decrypted and transmitted back to me to decide where to go from here."

My tone was commanding and final, Antonio knew his mission and he nodded silently, picking up his bags ready to leave. We shook hands once more and Antonio turned to board the airship that would take him on the trip to Atlas via Straltis. I stood and watched the Airship leave before sighing I just hoped that I wasn't sending Antonio into too much danger given my hunches about who was behind all of this. My Squadron now rebuilt was being deployed into the deepest reaches of the Wasteland to the most isolated colony in all of Remnant to investigate rumours of a large build-up of various outlaws and rogue hunters in the area as well as the odd sighting of what was described as an Atlesian uniform, just like at the first camp. I just hoped it wouldn't become the bloodbath and Grimm feast that my last foray into the wastelands was and that it would yield more answers.

**That same time, Fort Amada Medical Facility. Simon's PoV:**

After the visit from Ozpin I'd ended up sleeping for over 12 hours: It was the longest non-medically induced sleep I'd had since I was a kid. Then after spending most of Sunday speaking to Shaun and Gregory before sleeping again through the afternoon I'd once again awoken to find Gregory and Shauno chatting with Minder-27 who was taking notes.

"Hey fellas, has Kale woken up yet?" I asked, hoping to be able to speak to my friend.

The three looked over to me, their conversation ending. "No, he won't be awake for nearly another week. Unlike you he doesn't have an aura to speed up his recovery so he needs to be in a medically induced Coma to allow the most serious physical trauma to heal." Came Gregory's answer as the pair moved over to speak with me.

"I figured as much, what about you Shauno? You're the lucky one of the bunch it seems… you never get hurt." I joked and Shauno rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I just got to sit here having heart attacks waiting for you to decide you're not dying." Shauno managed to joke.

I smirked "Me, die? Yeah that won't happen…. Only the good die young, I'm way too much of an asshole to die yet." Came my usual theory that so long as I'm not too much of a good guy, I'm immortal.

"An interesting Theory Mr Alexander. Unfortunately I see a great many flaws with it." Came the amused tone of Prof. Ozpin as he entered with Staff Sergeant Peach who had a clip board and a very stern look upon her face.

"The Staff Sergeant just needs to check your wounds once more before you're discharged into the care of Beacon." The headmaster explained as Peach checked my vitals, took blood and changed the dressings on my back as well as giving me a new dose of what I assumed was painkillers and antibiotics to stave off any infections.

I just nodded, it wasn't my first hospitalisation so I just did as I was asked so that it was done as quickly as possible. My back was actually quite sore and I winced visibly as the dressing over the slash was removed and a disinfectant sprayed over it before being redressed.

Once it was all completed Peach signed off some forms and handed them to Ozpin before facing me looking honestly quite scary. "Now you listen here you little shit: The medical staff and I spent a lot of time taking bullets out of you and patching up your various cuts. You're on a strict 'no fighting' rest regime for at least 2 weeks, I do NOT want my and the other medical staffs' hard word wasted because you try to push your body too hard too early. If I find out you've tried to play hero and gotten yourself mangled again then so help me I'll find you and kick you in the balls so hard you'll be spending the rest of your life singing operas!" Came the strict _doctor's orders_.

I turned to a thoroughly amused Ozpin and rolled my eyes "Something tells me I won't be getting the opportunity to fight anything anyway. But I'll take that threat under advisement." I replied diplomatically, knowing full well I was in no position to resist whatsoever.

"Right then, say your goodbyes Simon. Your personal affects have already been taken to the Bullhead waiting for us and a wheelchair is on its way for you." Ozpin said as he, Minder-27 and Peach exited the room to give the three of us some privacy.

I sighed and looked sadly to my two friends "Well I guess I probably won't be seeing you guys for a while. Something tells me that Ozpin's going to be keeping me on a very short leash after this clusterfuck of a weekend." I lamented.

"Yeah, well I think it might be better for all of us if we do stay out of the firing line for a while, at least until Kale's out of coma." Shaun replied, obviously not intending on returning to work or going anywhere until his buddy was back on his feet.

"You three might be getting some easy time, but I'll still be out there: ferrying deserters out of Vale and harm's way as well as trying to find and interrogate as many current _Black Fist_ members as I can… I'm going to find which one of them caused this and then I'm going to go full House Bolton on them." Gregory promised, I'd not seem him this pissed off since he went berserker during our final _Black Fist _trial when his sister died.

"Just so know Gregory, if you get any clues about Levi you call me. I don't give to shits about the Staff Sergeant's threat I'm going to find Levi and get him out of that fucking death cult that is the _Black Fist_, it's worth spending the rest of my life singing Operas if it means saving our friend." I replied completely serious. But the other two just burst out laughing.

"Simon, I don't think singing is something you'll ever be good at even if you did lose your balls to a kick from the Staff Sergeant you tone-deaf son of a bitch." Shauno commented, wincing at memories of my drunk singing back at the old _Black Fist_ base with _Rum Squad_.

I flipped my friend off before chuckling. "I knew I was always right: The biggest assholes you ever meet are your best friends."

Gregory walked over and clasped my hand "I'll call you if I find out anything or if there's any change to Kale's condition." He said as the door opened and a soldier walked in with a wheelchair. I growled at being reduced to having to be wheeled around like an invalid but I wasn't prideful or egotistical enough to refuse help when I knew I needed it, at least in this situation.

Being wheeled around the base I had to admit it wasn't too bad or degrading, though part of me just wanted to break away from the guy pushing it and wheel around the base doing tricks in the wheelchair but I resisted the urge to make Ozpin wait any longer than he already had. Upon reaching the Bullhead I was assisted onto the Bullhead, given that I still had wounds in my leg to deal with and the wheelchair was collapsed and placed beside me. Ozpin sat there silently until the soundproofed doors had been sealed and quiet came over the cabin even as we flew. It was about a 45 minute flight from _Fort Amada_ to Beacon so I sat and waited for Ozpin to make the first move in our latest game of verbal chess.

"So Mr Alexander, It took all of a few hours of you getting your weapons back to find yourself in a fight for not only your life, but the lives of your friends as well. I don't think you fully thought our last conversation through quite enough." Came the disappointed tone of Ozpin.

I winced at the rebuke, but Ozpin was right: The very first thing I did once being returned my gun staff and gauntlets was to throw myself right back into the fray without even thinking I had the option not to. I simply sat waiting for what Ozpin had to say next.

"You've proven stubborn and resilient: both very good qualities, however stubbornness is a quality best used in moderation. You however seem to never to know when to back away from a situation or if you're walking into a trap, or if you do then you see fit to spring said trap." Ozpin continued, his tone now neutral rather than rebuking.

"I've never backed away from a fight, I can't afford to in this life that has been presented to me: In the past I've either been I'm fighting for my life or I'm protecting a comrade and now that I'm a Huntsman: I'll not have the luxury of backing down or innocents will die." I replied calmly, talking to Ozpin maturely, not allowing any anger or belligerency to seep in.

Ozpin nodded understandingly. "That is quite a selfless point of view you seem to hold, you're learning what it truly means to be a huntsman, but remember you're still only a Huntsman-in-Training. Which means you mustn't risk yourself unnecessarily, your skills are still developing. More than that: you're a leader… you must lead as well as fight, you are sorely lacking as a leader to SNST. That is something I can directly attribute to your reluctance to spend any more than the minimal amount of time with them." Ozpin replied, pointing out more of my many flaws.

"I'm not a leader Professor, I'm a grunt…. We've been through this sir." I replied formally.

Ozpin merely smirked "But I'm sure you had more than capable leaders in the past to learn off of though." Came Ozpin's comment, his tone one of curiosity.

I raised an eyebrow at the professor and took the bait "I had a very capable leader in the _Black Fist_, his name was Ty Kruger: The oldest badass I've ever met." I replied, slightly nostalgic but also guarded as to why Ozpin was asking about the Colonel or anything to do with the _Black Fist_.

"Do you still keep in contact with this Ty Kruger?" Ozpin asked, still curious but for what I did not know.

"I'm merely curious as to why you don't follow the example of your former leader? I can tell you admire him." Ozpin explained his reasoning for wanting to know.

I gingerly rubbed the back of my neck, feeling kind of woozy and unable to think straight from the flight and the painkillers "He had a lot of experience: 35 or more years in the Atlesian Military fighting in wars in every kingdom as far back as the Faunus War. I can't hope to emulate so much experience in leading men when he's been fighting and leading for twice as long as I've even been alive."

Ozpin chuckled "Well that explains why Oobleck is so impressed with your history knowledge of the Faunus War… you served with someone who was actually there. But I think I'll keep that one our little secret from Dr Oobleck." Came the joking reply.

I smirked at the joke "Yeah, he really is something. In answer to your previous question: I do keep in contact with Ty, I went out of contact with him once for months and he'd feared my death…. Gave him a heart attack when I called him up one day when I'd entered the Schnee's service." I responded, noting a slight slur in my words.

Ozpin nodded "Well have you been in contact with him within the last month?"

I nodded "He has, just discussing his stupid decision to leave retirement to become a Co… A Colonel in the Vacuo Militia." I stopped and faced Ozpin, my face hardening. "Why am I slurring my words, what was I injected with?!" I asked fiercely.

"An extra strong painkiller and a relaxant…. I know you dislike flying and I thought to save you the distress of flying while injured." Ozpin replied.

I smirked. "Well how thoughtful Ozpin. I think you may have used a bit too high a dosage though." I pointed out, feeling woozier.

"No, the right dosage to put you asleep within about 30 minutes. You still need plenty of rest while the bullet wound to your abdomen and the cut in your back heal." Ozpin replied firmly. "Now before you nod off is there anything specific that Ty Kruger told you about his time in the Vacuo Militia?" His tone somewhat rushed.

"No, no real details about his time in the Militia." I lied, still having enough control over my mind to not tell Ozpin about the data stick or anything else that had been relayed to me.

Ozpin frowned slightly before sighing. "Ok Mr Alexander, We'll pick this discussion up another time." He replied just before I slipped into a deep slumber.

**Monday Morning, Week 7. Beacon Infirmary, Velvet's PoV:**

I'd arrived early into Beacon's infirmary upon whispers I'd heard while Coco and I were doing laps around Beacon, as usual she could never keep up to me: Being a rabbit Faunus did have its advantages such as higher than usual speed and agility. Upon entering the infirmary I saw the nurse who smiled at me.

"Oh Velvet, I didn't know you were volunteering today? Here let me get your apron." The nurse said cheerfully as she rose from her station.

"No, I'm not on today…. I was actually coming in to just ask if any patients came in last night? I'd heard some rumours going around Beacon this morning." I replied, worry in my tone.

The nurse looked down at her clipboard sadly "I'll see if he is awake, Ozpin said you'd probably want to see him when you found out." The nurse replied as she ducked out of her station and into one of the infirmary rooms. Coming out moments later she walked over to me "He's currently sleeping but I see no problem with you seeing him." The nurse answered, holding the door open for me.

Stepping in I was in utter shock and my heart skipped a beat as I saw the scarred face of Simon, but without his usual scowl or otherwise angry face. Here in his sleep he looked at peace and relaxed. I studied his face for a moment, seeing stress lines in his forehead and around his eyes. I noticed his scares, now slightly less inflamed but no less visible _'Time really has been cruel to you Simon_' I thought as I took a seat beside the sleeping boy. I had about 45 minute until class began

"Simon, who did this to you? Was it that Levi person that you told me about the other week when we had breakfast together? What on Remnant have you gone and gotten involved in?" I wondered out loud, I had so many questions for Simon that had been mounting in past weeks to do with why he always went out alone into the night and came back bruised and bloodied.

I was more than worried about my friend, I felt a duty to protect him just as he had helped protect me from CRDL and other bullies. I knew I'd promised myself to only resort to violence when someone's life was in danger: Simon was obviously at risk of death from whoever this Levi person was… If I ever meet him then I was going to kill them, to protect my friend.

I reached out and took one of his hands in mine, lightly running my thumb over the top of his hand I sighed "I wish you'd confide in me Simon, it doesn't matter what is going on… I just wish you'd talk to me because I'm scared Simon. Scared that you'll get hurt or killed doing whatever it is you do on weekends, I CAN'T lose you! Not again… not again. I couldn't bear to go through it all again" I whimpered, a tear running down my face I looked down to my friend who began to stir.

Simon's Blue-Grey eyes slowly opened looking groggy and confused as he tried to get his bearings. Upon seeing me everything seemed to click into place and he winched "Oh, Velvet… I was hoping you'd not see me like this." he said somewhat regretfully.

"Like what, Fighting for life in an infirmary bed after getting involved in some secret war or revenge or whatever it is you do on weekends to end up constantly bloodied and bruised?" I replied more harshly than I really wanted to.

Simon looked down "I know…. Things kinda got fucked up on Friday night: _White Fang_ seemed to have wanted a piece of me and my buddies, which they got. Can't really blame them considering my very existence is an affront to them and my buddies were snipers who hounded them all across Atlas claiming only dust knows how many scalps." Came his reply.

I was slightly shocked, I'd been wrong on my assumption of who was responsible for hurting Simon but also that he wasn't being hostile at all towards the _White Fang _who had done this, they had legitimate reason for wanting to take him away from me. "Well at least you're safe here… I just wish you'd not be so reckless with your life, your life is important." I replied more softly this time.

Simon looked up and sighed "I'm not reckless…. I just push the limits, sometimes I lose and when I do I tend to lose badly. But be that as it may… I doubt Ozpin will be letting me into Vale for a few weeks at least, so don't worry that cute head of yours, I'm not going anywhere." Simon replied, trying to act innocent.

I rolled my eyes and smiled a bit, blushing at the fact he called me cute. "You Simon Alexander are Incorrigible." I retorted with a laugh.

"Whatever stops you being upset and worried, trust me…. This is minor compared to my previous two hospitalisations" Simon replied cockily as he shifted to sit up.

"You're not very good at easing people's nerves are you?" I asked given Simon's poor attempt at humour about his previous injuries.

"Nope…. Not at all." Simon admitted sheepishly.

Standing up I walked around and grabbed the clipboard at the end of his bed and looked over the notes "Simon…. How did you let your Aura get low enough to let yourself get shot twice, and don't even get me started on the slash." I questioned sternly as I did whenever anyone was brought here from missions or combat classes.

"Big match in Combat class and by the time this fight had happened I was still worse for wear Madam Nurse." Simon replied cheekily. "You know…. I should get injured more often if you're going to be the one nursing me back to health." He added on.

I frowned in response "Oh trust me, do that and I'll make you regret it so badly you'll never get injured again." An evil glint in my eye as I faced my friend who simply just began laughing.

"Oh Velvy, I know you better than that: You don't have the capacity for such violence or to deliberately cause harm to someone under your care. Your kindness and compassion is your finest quality, don't ever forsake that." Simon ordered firmly, his face hardening.

I tilted my head, slightly confused. "I mean it Velvet: No matter how bad things get or how dark the world around us becomes, never stop being the shining beacon of light that I look to in order to save myself from all the pain." Simon ordered, his voice softer now the slightest quiver of fear slipping into his tone.

I finished checking all the monitors hooked up to Simon before sitting back down beside him "What's up Simon? What do you mean, is something bad coming?" I asked, prodding my friend for information.

"I can't say because I don't know for sure, I just have a bad feeling that something bad is coming and we're going to get caught right in the middle of it." Simon replied, obviously spooked by something.

I nodded slowly, I knew Simon had a habit of getting paranoid and fraying emotionally when things surprise him or catch him off guard as I'd seen when he and I had first seen each other after Initiation and he could go overboard with his assumptions but this time there was a more genuine fear to it. But fear of what exactly I couldn't tell.

"Just relax Simon, I'm sure that if anything bad is coming that Ozpin, the other Hunters, Police and Military can handle it." I cooed, trying to ease the easily excitable mind that Simon possessed. Simon had always had an imagination that ran rampant, it was one of the things that was so fun about him when he was younger but I guess like so many things about him it had changed as well… Instead becoming a source for paranoia.

Simon opened his mouth to argue but he thought better of it and instead relaxed back into his pillow "Sorry, I'm just a little on edge…. I wasn't the worst off: One of my old merc buddies flat lined 3 times on the operating table and is still in a coma, things really, really did go south." Simon explained, his speech somewhat slurred.

"It's ok, nothing will come through that door except friends and those who intend to help you. I promise that!" I responded sweetly but with a firm edge to it.

Simon chuckled lightly "So much for me being the knight in shining armour…. Well tattered Camouflage webbing anyway… here to save everyone when at every turn I seem to be getting saved of protected by the very people I think I'm protecting."

I rolled my eyes "I think everyone around here is more than capable of protecting themselves, you more so than most." I replied.

Simon looked to me and smiled lightly "Yeah true, guess this huntsman stuff is rubbing off on me the longer I'm here. Thanks by the way, you know… for visiting me, if I'd awoken alone in here I'd probably have flipped the hell out."

"Is the great and fearless Simon Alexander admitting fear?" I replied with false mockery.

Simon's smile fell "Velvet I fear a great many things, losing those I care about most of all…. You especially."

I froze for a moment and looked at my friend, I'd spent quite a bit of my spare time thinking about that lunchtime in Beacon's gardens and just how _right_ it felt with my head against Simon's shoulder. It had lit a spark of something deeper than friendship, but exactly what I hadn't been sure of until now: I'd not really cared for dating or the opposite sex at all before. Hearing Simon admit that he cared about me above all others made me feel warm inside but also quite conflicted about just how deeply he felt about me: whether it was just a real strong friendship in a life seemingly devoid of true friends or something more.

Acting almost involuntarily I tentatively I leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips, not a deep or long kiss just a peck. Upon feeling his lips for a split second I drew back quickly, blushing and hiding my face. Not out of embarrassment but out of fear that the advance was not wanted. Turning back to look at him I saw his cheeks red like roses and a big, goofy grin on his face like a 12 year old but his eyes were conflicted.

"You-you ok Simon?" I asked, confused slightly.

"Yeah, just wasn't expecting that… not to say it isn't welcome at all. Just that I don't know where I'm going or how I feel about growing attached to someone as deeply we are… as deeply as we could be." Simon replied with a stutter in his voice.

I sat down on the edge of his bed and held his hand as he composed himself as to what to say next. "Velvet, I like you immensely even if I did act like a jerk during my first days here and if I've been hyper-evasive ever since. But I'm like that out of my own making… I've done a lot of wrong and I've been working hard to right them which incidentally has led to me being in this hospital bed hand in hand with the most adorable girl at Beacon. The world works in mysterious ways…" Simon replied, beginning to ramble.

"For someone that so easily faces Grimm, armed hordes of people hell bent on killing you…. You are very fearful at anything emotional aren't you?" I laughed softly as Simon stumble and ramble.

"Heh, not funny Velvy… But I was about to make my point: choosing me, becoming emotionally involved with me is a gamble with not only your emotions because let's face it, my mood swings a lot. But also with your life: so long as people out there are trying to hurt me, you're in danger." Simon replied, not so much trying to dissuade me from pursuing a relationship with him, but to ensure that I knew exactly what I was getting into.

"What? And I'm not in danger as a Huntress? I can handle anything that you can Simon. If you don't want this just say so and I'll pretend this conversation never happened." I said, issuing my ultimatum. It might seem cruel to force his hand but I knew Simon always would just ask for _more time_ to think as he did whenever pressed about his past.

Simon nodded and a small smile came to his face "I guess any and all reputation of intimidation and fear I had is going out the window. Velvet, would you be together-together with me." Simon said childishly and innocently, quoting the bubbly bomber Nora.

I smiled "I think your reputation will be safe come next combat class." I leaned in once more and kissed Simon once more, this time lingering a bit longer. Looking to my watch I sighed "I got to go to class now. But I'll see you at lunch ok." I said sadly.

"It's fine… I'm sure my team will be around to terrorise me at any moment anyway. Enjoy your day Velvy." Simon replied, his tone light and happy and giddy like a small child. I nodded and placed a final kiss on Simon's forehead before exiting.

Once out in the hall I felt kind of lightheaded as the full extent of the blur that was the last 45 minutes became clearer _'What just happened? Did Simon and I just become a couple?'_ I thought, kinda surprised that it had actually happened just like that. I wasn't upset or regretful at all… I was feeling on top of the world right now, though I'm sure it would end up coming as no shock to anyone given Simon's and mine history together, especially after the antics of last week. I sighed happily and walked off to class, an extra spring in my step.

**A/N: **Well that certainly was a thing at the end…. Guess this story officially got its ship to sail. Totally unchartered territory for me attempting to fully integrate a romance into this story, so any feedback and advice to improve would be sooo appreciated. As for the first few sections, it was as the title of the chapter suggested: setting the board for the moves to come from all sides of the conflict as the plot moves forward.

Another thing before I put it off any longer: As this story heads into the Tournament down the track I'm now putting out a request to you guys for OC's to use as first year students from the other academies for me to use as opponents in the tournament against the Beacon students. If you'd like to submit an OC just PM it to me with the: **Name, gender, Academy, physical description, weapon &amp; attire.** That's all I need for this.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I know I've been taking forever to update but I do work as fast as I can. If you got any feedback don't hesitate to PM or review and if you like what you read please Follow and Favourite. –CC Signing Off.


	39. Conditional Release

**Uber Long A/N: **I have had several PM's and reviews from about 6 or more people saying that Simon's line about not dying because he is an asshole is now their life mottos…. I don't know whether to feel proud I'm giving people something to live by or be worried that I'm creating an army of fellow assholes for me to command in my plan for galactic domination…. Oh wait I wouldn't mind that one actually, feel free to live life with Simon's attitude *laughs maniacally*

Thanks to those that PM'd me OC's for the tournament… big shout out to you guys!, I'll be continuing to accept new suggestions from anyone else that would like to contribute to this story whether in forms of OCs for the tournament or other random ideas you people come up with. To the people who PM me asking various questions about my story or even just my opinions on anything to do with RWBY, I always love the questions and discussions and theories that arise from them, so keep asking away if you got anything that you don't understand.

Also I've decided to split this chapter just to get something out, or it'll probably take me another month to get the whole thing done and I really don't wanna make you guys wait so long for me to get content out…. Good news though: this time next week I shall FINALLY be finished assignments and have 3 assessment free weeks until finals begin during which I'll be dedicating a lot of time to this story and here's hoping I'll be able to get 1 chapter out a week during that time (don't hold me to that though please… because we all know that life enjoys keeping me busy.)

Ok enough rambling from me, onto the next chapter of _From Hunted to Hunter_.

**Chapter 38: Conditional Release. Vacuo Desert railway, Monday night Week 7. Ty Kruger's PoV:**

The entire Raider Regiment had been loaded aboard trains in the early morning and had set out on the week long journey to the Colony of _Brimstone_, an apt name for the place from what I've heard of it: One of the hottest places in all of Remnant, the most isolated as well, it was nearly 1200km from _Brimstone_ to anywhere that even resembled civilisation. The people out here were tough and self-sufficient, and also extremely hostile to any outsiders who weren't there to trade food or other essentials for the artefacts and other materials they scavenged from the desert.

I'd kept to the small office I'd been given as a Squadron commander so far during the trip, calling in the new militiamen I'd been given to replenish my depleted unit after the last mission to introduce myself and outline what I expected of them. All that remained was my new 2Ic: a Captain named Corpston, I'd selected him due to his having spent most of his life in and around _Brimstone_ and as such knew the terrain and the people. I had also chosen him for the fact that he was nearly as old as I was, better to bring in someone already touched by bloodshed and had not much left to lose than a young fresh-faced teenager straight out of high school.

I heard a knock at my door, placing down the file in front of me I sat myself upright and in proper posture before answering "Enter." I ordered firmly to see the door open and in entered Henry who stood behind the other chair in my small office. I sized the man up, he was about 6ft tall and he had grey, curly hair that hung over a tanned and weathered face, olive coloured eyes bored emotionlessly into me.

"Please sit Captain." I motioned to the seat in front of Henry who sat down, not uttering a word.

"I understand you've spent a lot of time out near _Brimstone_, the only Militiaman who seems welcome out there." I commented, having seen in his file that he worked alone in the desert doing scouting for months at a time. Still no response from the man.

I raised an eyebrow "Captain Henry Corpston: Have you in all your solitary time in the deep wastelands forgotten how to speak?" I asked, a touch of sarcasm coming through my annoyed tone.

A smirk pulled at the edge of the man's mouth, not one of humour but of mockery "Oh I heard you, but I chose not to listen to racists." Came the simple, stinging response in a deep southern drawl.

I leaned forward and looked Corpston in the eye "I'm not a racist, I'm a soldier: so long as a man can do the job then I'll have absolutely no problem with whether or not he has animalistic features." I shot back, on the back foot, not having expected this sort of welcome from the Captain.

"Says the man who killed and enslaved Faunus all across Atlas on the orders of the bastards in the SSB, taking money from the SSB for those you captured to be used as slaves, money you've used to set up a comfortable life here in Vacuo. Everyone knows what you are Ty, but people follow you because you're good at what you do, because people assume you're here because you know what's going on and why this stuff is happening and not because you're running from past mistakes and personal shame. If it wasn't for that you'd never have been offered your commission and you'd have been arrested, tried and probably hanged for your crimes or at the very least banished to the desert." Henry rebuked, his tone as harsh as any I've heard.

"I may have had some misguided views, but I did not approve of being manipulated by the SSB one bit… I did what I did to combat the _White Fang_ after the Atlesian Government abandoned the outer colonies. You don't know what happened there, you didn't see what those animals did!" I growled, not going to tolerate this crap.

"Heh, if you say so Colonel. I don't like you, in fact I despise you and everything you stand for because deep down you're still a racist Atlesian who in a militia where 77% of the troops and officers are Faunus managed to put together an entire squadron using only humans." Henry rebuked once more. "But that being said I know you've got a good brain inside your head and I'll follow your orders but no more and no less." He finished.

"The bare minimum of work? Typical lazy Vacuo." I retorted, letting my dislike for the kingdom seep through a bit. "I'll accept your offer but you slip up even once and I'll shoot you myself Captain." I warned threateningly.

"I'll accept that offer, now would you like to learn about what I've found out in the deep desert?" Henry asked calmly and distantly.

"Ok Henry, tell me what you know" I said as I sat back to hear the new Captain out.

**Beacon Infirmary, Tuesday Morning. Simon's PoV: **

Monday had been an odd day: after Velvet left I had lain there in euphoria for most of the morning then I'd began thinking of all the what-ifs:

'What-if she disapproves of my past?', 'What-if the _White Fang_ or _Black Fist _find out about us and targets her, or her family?', and 'What-if I lose control and hurt her?'

By the time Velvet came back after classes had finished I'd become a ball of nerves, unsure I was ready to let someone into my heart and I was honestly scared as I was going into something completely unknown… this was not an enemy I could simply kill and be done with it, no this was something far more frightening: This was love, something strange and foreign to me and it frightened me in a way that no amount of armed enemies ever could, but like usual Velvet managed to make me calm down and relax by her mere presence.

We talked for about an hour just about random stuff, well she talked and I mostly listened. I enjoyed listening to other's stories especially ones of people just living normal lives, that's why I always had such fond memories of the Guardsmen's Mess at _White Castle_: Just listening to the chatter of a morning and evening about sports, kids, partners, plans, dreams… it made feel like I had a vestige of normality to my life even though the exact opposite was in fact true. But here and now, I was normal (the fact I was in a hospital bed notwithstanding) I wasn't an outsider looking in, I legitimately felt like just a normal teenager experiencing his first romance and that both excited and frightened me.

I'd ended up falling asleep after about an hour of talking as my body was using much of my energy to fuel my Aura's healing of the wounds I'd been inflicted with but I had felt Velvet's kiss upon my forehead as I went under once more.

I'd awoken this morning rather early and began complaining about being bedridden to the nurse and demanding a set of crutches to get mobile with as she checked my vitals and my wounds.

"Well Mr Alexander, 1 more day and you'll be mobile again. The wound in your leg was lucky to only have his flesh rather than going through your femur… or you'd have been in a world of trouble. So count yourself lucky you're only bedridden for a few days." The nurse rebuked as she exited the room back to her station.

As she left I flipped her the bird before slumping back into my pillow bored out of my skull. I reached across for my scroll which sat on the bedside table, I hadn't checked it since before the ambush. The first thing I noted was that it had obviously been hacked into as some of my messages had been read _'Thanks Gregory…. Fucking spies have no sense of privacy'_ I thought, kinda annoyed that my personal scroll had been infiltrated.

Brushing aside that minor gripe I checked the news, not surprisingly finding absolutely no mention of the events of Friday night, but I did find a story on rising racial violence between street gangs, _White Fang_ factions and that a home had been torched and graffiti of a Black Fist sprayed upon the charred remains of the building, all 5 occupants (Human mother, Faunus father and 2 month half-breed triplets) had all died in the inferno.

I felt physically ill reading the story… not because it shocked me that it had happened but it forced me to remember something I'd done 3 years ago at the end of my final _Black Fist _trial that was eerily similar to this. It was the first time I'd ever killed in cold blood rather than in the heat of battle or to defend myself from those who would harm me. _'Alia… I remember you, being honest was your one mistake and it got you, your family, 5 of my friend and so many more killed. It seemed right at the time… but that is because I was so wrong, and because I was wrong you became just one more innocent life snuffed out by a war of hatred.'_ I thought, getting slightly chocked up over it but I forced the cry and the tears back… I was NOT going to let myself breakdown in public like this.

It took a few minutes but I managed to regain my composure and suppress the memory. Deciding that maybe the news wasn't a good Idea I opened up my contacts and shot a text off to Shauno, asking how he, Gregory and most importantly Kale were holding up. Just to get my head off of other less pleasant topics. I was restless, as boring and tedious as it was I kinda missed being in class, at least it was something to do. My scroll buzzed, opening it up I saw an incoming call from Shauno.

"Hey Buddy, How's ya going'?" came the voice of an obviously drunk Shaun.

"I'm well…. Still bedridden till tomorrow but I guess I can't complain aye. How's Kale?" I asked, hiding the pain, shame and hints of crying from my voice.

"Kale is sti-hic-still in a coma, Gregory is looking over him. I met up with this funny soldier guy named Auburn who's also a sniper, convinced me that I needed to get out and we hit the town, I really did need it…. Thought I was going to go insane just seeing Kale laying there so close to death." I could hear Shaun start to sob drunkenly.

Part of me broke, the snipers had always been happy-go-lucky and very few times I'd seen them serious or angry and NEVER before had I seen or heard either of them cry or breakdown like that.

"Shaun: Kale will make it, he will live another day to terrorise Vale's nightclubs with you" I responded, my tone conveying a deep caring for my friends and guardian snipers. _'Ugh today really is shaping up to be one hell of a feels trip'_ I thought to myself.

"I know and thanks buddy, through everything there's always been a chance but neither of us really accepted that we were mortal and continued to act like we were 10ft tall, bulletproof gods. I talked to Gregory… he's spent the last couple days sending agents out searching for leads, finding none. Whoever is behind this is a professional at covering their tracks." Shauno replied, a small chuckle seeping into his voice… we were all drained physically and emotionally and I think the humour really helped us both.

"Well the _White Fang_ tend to be experts at that, as is everyone else in the underworld." I replied, knowing that I and the snipers and everyone else we knew also knew how not to be found if we so chose.

"True, listen I'm going to go… Gregory said he needed to see me once I sobered up a bit and he will get in contact with you sometime this week. You take care now, don't go dying…. Kale and I still gotta plan your 18th when you become a _real_ man." I heard Shauno say, not happily… but with a relieved chuckle.

"I look _sooo very forward_ to it." I responded sarcastically before cutting the connection. I was kinda glad that Shaun had found something to distract him, I could only imagine how painful it would have been to have had nothing to do but sit there and watch 2 of his friends linger near death. _Guess it is true when they say that A man's dying is more his survivor's affair than his own.'_ I thought to myself as I lay back staring at the ceiling, I didn't know why but I felt kinda disappointed and bitter. It took me a while to work out why but I eventually did: I'd been back at least a whole day, during which I'd only had Velvet come visit: Weiss and my team had all not even sent me a text to ask if I was ok, let alone come visit. _'Maybe Ozpin's hiding it from them… but then how did Velvet know?'_ I thought, my mind arguing with itself and giving me a headache until I eventually dozed back off to sleep, my Aura still draining me to repair my wounds.

I must have slept at least a few hours as by the looks of the shadows coming in the windows it was afternoon. I was still bitter about the fact that I'd not had any visitors apart from Velvet. _'Like seriously… where the hell are you SNST?'_ I mentally fumed as threw my threw my arms up in frustration and threw my legs over the side of the infirmary bed. Slowly and gingerly set my feet down on the ground, groaning in pain as my muscles fired for the first time in several days. _'Still not as bad as my first physio session after Roman ruined my knee…. Oh I look forward to finding you Roman as soon as I've taken care of Levi, you're next on the list of people who die, don't think I've forgotten about you'_ I mused as I gingerly shuffled across to where my precious _Umbra Vigilans _and gauntlets were stored.

Fixing my gauntlets to my wrists and using my staff as an improvised walking stick I began to limp out of my room, almost instantly the nurse saw me and if looks could kill I'd have been incinerated instantly.

"SIMON ALEXANDER! Back to your room this instant!" The nurse berated as she rose from her station only for the door to open up and in walked Professor Ozpin, his cane tapping on the ground as he looked somewhat amused at what he had walked in on.

"Ahh Mr Alexander, I see that it has taken you less than two days to get back into mischief." He chuckled.

I raised an eyebrow at the eccentric Headmaster "Well I was going slightly insane being bedridden without company, so I'm headed back to my dorm. SNST might drive me insane as well but at least I wouldn't be alone…. I dislike being in solitude." I responded as I once more began hobbling towards the door only to be stopped as Professor Ozpin placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Now, now. Don't be so hasty Mr Alexander, I'm sure the Nurse will not mind being rid of you slightly early" Ozpin said more as a statement and an order rather than a question. "Just sit and I'll arrange for a wheelchair to take you to your dor..."

"No, No wheelchair. I will NOT be wheeled around like an invalid around the school, I want a set of crutches, and I'm going under my own power." I replied defiantly, standing my ground leaning against my staff.

Ozpin just shook his head "Nurse, if you would get him a set of crutches." The nurse nodded and left to go fetch a set.

"So Simon, before I return you to your dorm I've got to give you the conditions of your release. Mainly you'll be not allowed to compete in combat class for the next two weeks just like Staff Sergeant Peach specified. Also I will not be confiscating your weapons this time and you'll be allowed into Vale but only if accompanied by other students be that your team, a friend such as Miss Schnee or Miss Scarlatina. Hopefully that will keep you out of trouble, your team and friends have been informed of this condition and I'm sure they'll see it enforced." Ozpin replied in his neutral tone.

I could see what Ozpin was doing, he knew I'd be more risk avoidant if I had my team or my friends with me, taking advantage of my newly found protective nature of my friends as well as my desire to keep them from finding out about my past and what I'm involved with. "Fine, I don't think I'm exactly going to be up to much in Vale for a while anyway, not with things as they currently stand." I replied as I waited for my crutches, making sure to not say anything that may point to the truth, last thing I needed was adding any more fuel to the already raging fires of rumours surrounding me.

Eventually the nurse returned with a set of crutches, ducking into the room to quickly change into my usual outfit and returning my staff to its bandolier that now hung around my chest before returning to Ozpin, it was then that Velvet decided it would be a good time to come visit me.

"Hey Si-"The young Faunus girl went silent and shy as soon as she saw the Headmaster "Professor Ozpin, I wasn't expecting you to be here, I'll come back later." She said meekly, a blush dusting her cheeks pink obviously not expecting there to be anyone but the nurse and myself here.

"Oh no, do stay Miss Scarlatina. Simon was about to relocate to his team's dorms and I think he will need someone to collect the rest of his stuff and help him move it to his team's dorm. Also I'm sure you'll wanna spend some time with him to get to know his habits and temperament, seeing as it's now you're responsibility to keep him out of trouble when he is in Vale." The Headmaster said with an almost impish grin that I thought looked entirely suspicious, not that I wasn't going to complain about getting out of this blasted infirmary or spending time with Velvet.

Velvet nodded and went to the room where I'd been staying to collect my things, once she was out of sight Ozpin chuckled and turned to me "An interesting yet very good choice for you if I do say so myself." And with that he turned and walked out of the infirmary without another word being said. I was left slightly gobsmacked that Ozpin had deduced our blossoming relationship so quickly and easily.

It only took a moment more before Velvet reappeared with the few possessions that had been in the infirmary room with me, namely a bag with my equipment that I'd been wearing during the ambush and another bag with my sniper rifle and its accessories. "Ready to go Simon?" Velvet asked, her tone slightly worried as I was meant to still be bedridden rather than up and about.

"Ready as I'll ever be to go back to the insane asylum that is the SNST dorm." I replied sarcastically as I began to hobble out of the room, Velvet falling in beside me.

The walk was quiet for the most part, neither I nor Velvet really knew what to say. And I was also feeling every set of eyes I passed fall upon me, I could almost hear the hushed voices and the latest rumours doing the rounds about me. "You ok Simon?" I heard Velvet asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a bit unnerved by all the eyes I can feel staring at me." I replied, not looking over to my newfound partner.

"Now you know how it feels to be a Faunus." Velvet replied in a sad tone that physically made me hurt.

I just nodded, not knowing what to say given my role in perpetuating racism against the Faunus during my time in Atlas. I might be trying hard to be change, to let go of my racist, hateful ways but nothing could ever fully make up for what I had done, what I had believed in for all those years and it was only a matter of time until those around me began to find out, I'd caused too many rumours and I can only dodge them for so long in a rumour mill that is any High school or higher education institution.

"So how's things with your Team going Velvy?" I asked, trying to make conversation, a small smile upon my face.

"Things are getting a little hectic, we're having our first solo away mission at the beginning of next semester so Coco is pushing us all extra hard to get ready for whatever Ozpin throws our way." Velvet replied, sounding a little awkward.

"That sounds like a big step forward in your training, I'd wish you luck if I thought you guys would need it." I replied, resisting the urge to tell Velvet to _be careful_ because I knew I'd be a hypocrite for saying so, given the danger I place myself in and because I knew that Velvet was a much more capable fighter than she let people believe she was.

"What about SNST, I imagine being a leader isn't exactly what you had planned." Velvet commented.

"SNST is good I guess…. We're able to tolerate each other enough to spend some time together outside of Beacon and we've gotten good marks on the group assessments, so we're good as you're going to find out soon enough." I replied almost mechanically, applying simple yet flawless logic to my team's assessment, my dorm room door coming into sight.

It was then that Velvet stopped, I could almost feel the hesitation radiating off her. "Something the matter? Don't worry… my team doesn't bite: Ok maybe Sienna does but she is mostly Bark." I chuckled at my own pun, even if it was slightly racist.

"Huh, oh it's nothing to concern yourself with." Velvet replied with a nervous laugh, completely missing my joke.

I turned and stared at Velvet with my softest stare "Velvy, please don't keep secrets… I know you're hiding something, trust me I'm the expert at hiding my deepest thoughts, memories and fears. So what is it you're looking so nervous about?" I pleaded.

Velvet looked at me and raised an eyebrow but before she could say anything the SNST dorm opened up and out rolled Teal and Nyanza, apparently the former trying to strangle the latter.

"I'll teach you to try and steal my combat gear and weapon for a fucking photo shoot with your buddies!"

"Hey come on, is it really that bad of a thing?" Nyanza said laughing while also being strangled by the fiery huntress.

Velvet looked at me, her mouth agape obviously lost for words while I just face palmed and leaned in "Welcome to my life, give Teal a moment to vent her rage… knowing Nyanza he deserves it." Velvet looked rather shocked at my way of keeping order within my team.

I waited for about 10 seconds and when I saw Nyanza beginning to turn blue I cleared my throat and got Teal's attention "I think he's had enough Teal…. Even if he is a dick he doesn't need to be strangled into unconsciousness. Now what was this I heard about a photoshoot involving Teal's equipment?" I asked, thoroughly amused by all this.

"Hey, Mon Capitaine! We didn't think you'd be out of the infirmary till tomorrow." Nyanza said through his coughs.

"Stop dodging the questions or I might just strangle you myself for not coming to visit me in the infirmary." I warned, totally intending on strangling him with the tethers of his own gauntlets.

"We kinda decided as a group to let you have some space…. We imagined you'd not be in the mood for company. Now as for this: I caught him going through my stuff collecting my combat gear, when I confronted him he said he was _'_borrowing_ it so one of his female friends could model it'_. " Teal explained, still staring daggers at Nyanza.

I heard Velvet giggle slightly at all this.

"Well Not like Teal would approve modelling like a dominatrix, so we thought it wise to avoid her wrath by just borrowing her gear." Nyanza explained, obviously not having counted on being caught.

"Nyanza, this has got to be the stupidest thing you've done since I've known you: like really you expected to get away with this? I'll give you points for trying to avoid the cliché dominatrix taunts with Teal. And I'm not even going to ask why you and your buddies were doing this! Like seriously I don't wanna know… EVER" I replied, deciding it is better if I never understand Nyanza's hormonal teenage mind.

Turning to Teal I shook my head "I'm going to ask you nicely Teal to get a new combat outfit next time we're in Vale….. Your leather one is just proving to be too distracting for Nyanza, not to mention I personally think it impractical in a field setting." I suggested most firmly to Teal who flicked some teal tipped hair out of her face.

"Fine, I'll go into Vale with Sienna on Friday and you're coming with…. No getting into trouble again for you." Teal replied just as firmly getting nods of agreement from Nyanza and Velvet.

"This suddenly feels like an intervention…" I retorted.

"Well it should be Simon, we're only trying to look out for you when you refuse to look out for yourself." I heard the voice of Sienna who popped out of the dorm, red faced from laughter at her two quarrelling teammates. "Oh hey Velvet" The dog Faunus said upon seeing the still shocked rabbit Faunus.

"H-hey Sienna." Velvet said to the fellow Faunus before she turned to me "Simon, I don't feel sorry for you at all…. You're almost certainly the most mischievous out of your team" She giggled out, feeling slightly more at ease.

"Oh you can't prove that Velvy, I'm a good student who never gets up to no good." I said sarcastically.

My team gave me a curious before shaking their heads about my comment "Oh really." They all said in unison, Teal and Nyanza momentarily forgetting their own squabbles to gang up on me as Team SNST often did to irk the captain.

"What? Is that really so hard to believe?" I asked, my voice growing more sarcastic.

"I think we're not even going to dignify that with an answer Simon…. I think the fact Ozpin thinks it will take 5 people to keep you in line speaks for itself." Sienna rebuked with an eye roll.

"Right, glad to see you rabble can agree on something whenever it involves getting one up on me, now if you don't mind I'd like to get inside and see how badly Teal and Nyanza destroyed the dorm this time around as well as to lie down." I said as I began to move myself forward on the crutches.

Sienna moved over towards Velvet to take my bags off of her, Velvet for a reason I couldn't work out immediately shied away from the other Faunus. Sienna turned to me "You go ahead, Velvet and I got some Faunus business to discuss." She said as she closed the door behind Teal, Nyanza and I.

"Umm what was that about?" Nyanza asked, looking just as confused as Teal, their current squabble all but forgotten for now.

"Not the slightest Nyanza, but I'm sure we'll find out after you bombard her with intrusive questions 10 seconds after she comes back in." I replied as I eased myself into my bed and lay down.

"Oh no you don't Simon, don't even think of dozing off!" I heard Teal rebuke.

"For once I agree with the Dominatrix…. What the fuck happened to you man? We've been hearing rumours of everything ranging from secret fight clubs and you being a hired thug for money through to attempted assassinations by various factions in Vale's underworld!" Nyanza continued on from his partner.

"Honest truth: Me and a few buddies from Atlas ran into some fuckers from Atlas who weren't buddies…. Violence ensued and there were casualties." I replied giving a vague truth but a truth nonetheless.

Both teammates just shook their heads "I swear Simon can you like for once not be a cryptic asshole?" Teal said frustrated at my usual evasiveness.

"Teal, 1 of my closest friends are in a coma after Friday night's firefight, I came within an inch of my own death had it not been for lady luck once more smiling upon me… can you please for once just not hound me over this, it's good to know you care enough about me to worry as you do but I can't say anything more than what I have and even if I could, I wouldn't." I said in a harsher tone than I really meant for it to be.

Teal had been about to continue rebuking me about my habits but she shut up as soon as she heard my assessment of what had happened.

"What do you mean an inch of your own death?" Nyanza said, curiosity mixed with something akin to concern.

"As in an enemy had me at their mercy and was about to administer a _coup de grace_!" I shot back, my anger and bitterness at everything and everyone beginning to boil over, both Nyanza and Teal were slightly shocked that I so openly told them just how bad things had been. "I know I act like I'm immortal… but I know I'm not, I've been one wrong move from being killed for so long I just stopped caring if my times up, but that attitude is probably something I need to drop given the circumstances." I said dryly, just wanting to sleep… the hobble up here had taken more out of me than I preferred to admit, especially that against all Velvet's pleadings I took the stairs rather than the lift up to the top story of the dorm building.

Both Teal and Nyanza looked frozen at the thought of my death and I found that kinda touching. It was then that the door open and a giggling Sienna re-entered the dorm carrying my bags "Here you go lover boy!" she said as she placed my bags down at the end of my bed and collapsed laughing on her own bed next to mine.

I buried my head in my pillow, bracing for the bombardment of teasing to come momentarily.

"Um Sienna, what are you on abo- Oh well that explains the cute nickname I heard you use out there." Teal said, suddenly working out what she meant.

"Well you sly dog Simon…. Can't say anyone will be surprised to find out you're a giant softy beneath the cold, violent exterior." Nyanza teased.

"Nyanza…. Your giant soft face is about to meet my cold, violent fist if you keep going." I snarled.

"Oh Simon you can't fool us with your threats anymore…. Not now we know your secret." Sienna teased.

"Do I even wanna know how you found that out?" I asked, sitting up to face the laughing faces of my team.

"Oh I could smell it in Velvet's scent so I pressed the question and she confessed, dog Faunus can tell these things… just like we can also smell someone's fear." She explained.

I just shook my head, deciding to double up on deodorant from now on just to spite Sienna's sensitive sense of smell.

"Nothing to be ashamed of or reason to hide the fact you've found someone special Simon, I'm sure you're getting bored of pretending to be the lone wolf anyway." Sienna continued on, now sounding serious.

"I'm not ashamed at all Sienna, I just prefer to keep my private life exactly that: private. This is new to me and I'd have preferred to have some time to just work out exactly what I'm doing." I replied, really pissed off that anyone could even suggest that I'd be ashamed of Velvet.

"Ok If you need advice on women the-"

"Nyanza, no just NO! I'm not taking your almost certainly perverted advice on the opposite sex, especially given your track record of fails to court Teal." I shot back at the other male in my team. I swear I could have heard a pin drop as I just burnt Nyanza to a crisp with my reply.

"Hey! He is NOT trying to court me… he is just being a right royal pain!" Teal shot back indignantly.

"Well it certainly looks that way to me. Well guys, as much fun as this little chat has been… I really do need to rest, so please do try to not disturb me. Sienna you're in charge of stopping Teal from strangling Nyanza anymore." I said as I lay down, my energy sapped body drifting off before I even hit the pillow.

**A/N: **Well that was a Thing…

I'm once again sorry for the length of time it take me to upload new chapters and if the quality is somewhat lacking, but I got holidays coming up so I'll have more time to write and put out some great stuff.

Credit for the character of Captain Corpston goes to **T0xicd0g.**

1 last thing before I go: To all my fellow Queenslanders: **UP THE MIGHTY MAROONS! Origin 2015 shall be ours!**

-CC signing off.


	40. The Opening Moves pt1

**A/N: **Hi all… a VERY happy and relaxed CC here who is enjoying not being swamped with assignments and is able to write a lot more now. I got some most interesting reviews for the last chapter: to **The Grimm Fate**: No Simon will not be getting a Harem, as much fun as I'd have with that I think that is a project for another time. Yes **HeroBladeRiyet** The dominatrix innuendo was strong with that scene, no that was not deliberate you just pointed it out to me and now I can no longer read that scene with a clean mind.

I know I said I'd get 3 chapters written and published during my break: Well my computer decided it didn't like the internet where I'd gone to and wouldn't connect to it, but I did manage to write 3 full chapters and get a 4th underway: now that there is this backlog of chapters, I'm going to release 1 chapter per week for at least the next 4, maybe 5 weeks…. So yay for holiday binge writing.

Now I won't ramble too much in the A/N…. not like you guys even read these. Now onto _From Hunted to Hunter _Chapter 39

**Chapter 39: The Opening Moves pt1, Wednesday Week 7. Simon's PoV: **

I awoke to the sounds of hushed conversation among my teammates, using all my effort not to yawn or give other signs that I'd awoken I listened in, to hear that they were talking about me.

"I'm not saying he's dangerous, but being around him could be hazardous to our health! There's no telling how many people could be after him, or how powerful they are! If they could bring him to the brink of death than what would they do to any of us?" I heard Teal say in her usual high and mighty tone, but now laced with a hint of fear.

"Yeah but he is still our leader and dare I say it: our friend, even if he acts like a jerk and is always lurking around and disappearing of weekends. I'm not about to let you throw him to the wolves and if someone wants to fuck with him then I'm going to fuck them up" I heard Nyanza emphatically defend me with his usual macho attitude, which honestly surprised me.

"I'm with Ny on this one, we've been given a job by Ozpin to keep him out of trouble and I intend on doing that job to the best of my abilities…. If we're there for him maybe he will open up a bit more, as much as he tries to hide it I can tell he is scared of something. I know what it's like to try and bottle up all the bad things that have happened to me and try to hide them from my team and my friends, it got too much and it exploded out in a fit of anger." Sienna replied bringing up her own experience with keeping secrets from us which had resulted in quite a colourful conversation a couple weeks back.

I decided it was time to make my presence known so with an exaggeratedly loud yawn and even more exaggerated stretching to announce my presence, pretending to wipe sleep from my eyes with a big, innocent, goofy smile to my team. "Good Morning SuNSeT" I said cheerfully to my teammates who all sat there looking like stunned mullets.

"Umm hey Simmo." Sienna said after a moment of stuttering as the other two tried to keep straight faces.

"Well this has got to be the first time since I've known you guys that I've been the last one to rise, I'll need to correct this tomorrow and make sure we're all up early for a training run." I replied still sounding way too cheerful for being only just waking up.

My team just groaned in frustration, each of them knowing full well that I could run any of them into the ground, despite being out of the warzone for a long time and having sustained many injuries I'd kept myself extremely fit, even if at the moment I wasn't anywhere near 100% I could still outlast them in a fitness session… at least I think I could, my leg wound would be one major factor hampering me for a while yet, but I needed to get exercising ASAP in case Levi popped up again and Gregory needed my help.

"Simon, just no…. you're on strict rest for the next 2 weeks!" Teal commanded shaking her fist slightly.

"Screw bedrest, I'll drive myself insane if I can't keep myself occupied…. Bedrest without being sedated gives me time to think, and thinking is something I prefer to avoid." I shot back as I sat up and stood less gingerly than yesterday but my hamstrings and calves were cramped from lack of use in the last 5 days.

"And you're probably going to drive me insane with how stubborn you are Simon!" Teal replied as she put her hair up into a bun for class.

"I thought you already were insane Teal." I replied as I grabbed up my uniform and towel and hobbled towards the dorm's bathroom, not giving Teal a chance to react lest she grab her whip or the chains she was rumoured to possess, though Nyanza is probably just full of shit on that point.

**Combat Class, Simon's PoV:**

I sat up in the stands watching the matches, I was itching to just hit something or someone and it was driving me insane that it would be two weeks until I could get back into the ring and vent my frustrations on a nearly daily basis on whichever poor bastard I end up fighting, except Nora….. Because the crazy Valkyrie scares the hell out of me with that bloody hammer and her happy-go-lucky insanity.

The last match had concluded with Russell from CRDL beating his teammate Dove, it had been a close match but dual wield weapons were the difference in their matchup, Russell was just too nimble for the heavily armoured Dove Bronzewing.

Goodwitch stepped forward into the arena with her scroll, looking somewhat impressed with the improvements in the standard of combat she was seeing from us. "An excellent Match you two, next match up shall be a tag team match between: Lie Ren and Ruby Rose vs Nora Valkyrie and Weiss Schnee."

The room filled with hushed conversations as the people made predictions on the outcome of the upcoming match. "Hey Simon, 10 Lien on Nora and your boss." I heard Nyanza whisper from behind me.

I thought about it, Nora and Weiss were surely among the top ten of the first years, as was Ruby. But Ren was a bit further down the list, his endurance in combat had been shown to be lacking as his heavily Aura centric fighting style put him under a lot of strain if the match lasted more than 5-10 minutes, but on the other hand I'd observed how protective Nora was of Ren, my skull still rang at times from the blow it took from Nora's Warhammer after I made the mistake of injuring the gunman, so Nora's hesitation may lose them the match, or at least my Lien hoped it would.

"Ok, 10 Lien on Ruby and Ren, just don't tell _Snowflake_ that I bet against her." I said with a laugh, knowing full well that Weiss would flip to find out I thought she'd lose this match.

"I'll only tell her if you win my money Mon Capitaine." Nyanza replied as we handed our Lien to one of Nyanza's buddies from Team SALT.

"I swear you two, you're going to end up on the street one day if you keep gambling!" Teal said most disapprovingly.

"Wow Teal, for a Dominatrix you're certainly disapproving of a lot of things…. You sure you aren't really a nun?" Nyanza retorted, several of his buddies as well as myself, even though I knew I'd probably pay for it later in the dorm.

"Just because at least one member of this team follows the rules! Simon you should be setting the example as a captain." Teal admonished, once more showing that she still held resentment at not being the captain.

"Because Teal, life is much more fun with a bit of rule breaking, you should try it sometime." I replied, turning down to look at the arena as the two sets of opponents took their places at opposite ends of the arena.

**Third Person PoV, Combat Arena:**

"Oh Hi Weissy, looking forward to some hammering time?" Nora said, almost bouncing on the spot with excitement.

Weiss rolled her eyes, still getting used to the almost infinite energy that Nora and Ruby had between them. "It shall be good to test myself against my teammate, I assume that you want to take Ren on?" Weiss said in a professional tone.

Nora stopped bouncing and fiddled her fingers together "Umm, actually could you face Renny? I don't want to hurt him again with _Magnhild_, so I'll fight Ruby and you can take Renny." The bubbly bomber said somewhat ashamedly.

Weiss was caught somewhat off guard "Umm Ok Nora, I'll take Ren. Just be sure to keep as little distance between you and Ruby at a minimum, don't give her a chance to charge you using her semblance or recoil from _Crescent Rose_." Weiss replied as she drew _Myrtenaster_ and flourished the rapier.

Nora saluted her and took out her Warhammer/grenade launcher with a crazed look upon her face. "Oh one more thing before we begin Weissy, hurt Renny and I'll have to Boop you in the head with Magnhild here, I'm sure your friend Simon would tell you what that's like..." The Bubbly bomber said cheerfully, but with a hint of insane menace about it.

Weiss staggered at hearing the crazed tone in Nora's voice and barely had time to get focused once more before she began being peppered by bullets from Ren's dual wield guns. Ren was running and gunning, closing the distance between himself and Weiss rather quickly and the heiress had been caught flatfooted. Weiss rolled to her left, dodging as best as she could the hailstorm of bullets that Ren was sending her way.

Once Weiss had completed her roll she flourished her rapier as it changed to its dust cartridge, then ramming the point into the ground which shot a stream of ice out towards Ren who skidded to a halt and lunged right to avoid the ice that the heiress shot at him. Ren immediately took off running once more running and gunning, peppering Weiss with rounds who used the ice dust in her rapier to build a barrier to stop the incoming rounds and every couple of seconds using her glyphs to propel airborne fragments of ice towards Ren.

It took no more than 11 seconds for Ren to close the distance of the arena, leaping up and over Weiss, trying to get in behind her and launch a punishing sweeping kick into Weiss' back, Weiss managed to commando roll forward and put a little distance between the two combatants. The normally stoic Ren had the slightest hint of a smirk on his face as he and Weiss faced each other, both sizing up the other, remembering various observations made during previous matches in order to find and exploit a weakness as both Weiss and Ren were patient, cautious and calculating combatants, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

On the other side of the arena though it was a completely different fight: The hyperactive Ruby and happy-go-lucky Nora were moving at an amazingly quick pace. Ruby was using her semblance and the recoil of her _Crescent Rose_ to propel herself in almost every direction possible, each time lashing out at the bubbly bomber with the blade of her scythe. Nora however seemed to be handling herself rather well, deflecting each slash with the shaft of her _Magnhild_ or jumping over the blows and returning the favour with a massive grenade augmented swing at Ruby. Despite the pace the two were going neither seemed to be tiring at all.

"Come on Ruby, its Booping Time!" Nora cried happily as she slammed the hammer into the ground, using the shockwave to throw Ruby off balance before using a grenade to propel herself towards the cloaked reaper who had tumbled over after losing her balance. Ruby managed to get her scythe up in time and blocked Nora's almost certainly match ending smash. But Nora kept the pressure on, firing a grenade that propelled the hammer further downwards. It took all of Ruby's strength to stop the hammer mere centimetres above her chest.

In an act of sheer desperation Ruby kicked upwards unexpectedly into Nora's left knee which sent the Valkyrie reeling backwards, Ruby's combat boots were surprisingly heavily reinforced and caused Nora quite a bit of pain. Ruby flipped herself back to her feet and lodged _Crescent Rose_ into the arena floor and began firing high calibre rounds at Nora who did her best to dodge but had to retreat and put much needed distance between her and Ruby, giving the later precious seconds to catch her breath and ready for her next assault.

Nora was laughing maniacally as she dodged bullets, eventually putting a fair distance between Ruby and herself the berserker bomber swapped her weapon from hammer to grenade launcher mode and launched an explosive towards the red reaper who only just managed to extricate her weapon from the ground and fire off another round, using the recoil to get her out of the path of the grenade.

Ruby was straight into the offensive, charging in with a powerful horizontal slash at Nora's neck, the bomber was caught off guard and with her weapon still in its grenade launcher form, but nonetheless Nora managed to block the slash, the blade of Ruby's scythe meeting the ammo canister of _Magnhild_. The force of the strike surprised Nora, who only smiled at Ruby "Oh this is fun! Guess I get to try my hardest now!" Nora said with a happy smile that was most disconcerting to Ruby. Nora began pushing back against _Crescent Rose_ until Ruby was on the back foot. Nora then pushed upwards with _Magnhild_, disentangling her and Ruby's weapons making Ruby stumble a bit. This was backed up by Nora head-butting Ruby which sent the red reaper reeling backwards, disengaging from the berserker bomber, using her semblance to get quickly to the opposite end of the arena, closer to where Ren and Weiss were engaged in combat.

Weiss and Ren were being methodical in their combat unlike their partners. They both moved deliberately, trying to get at the other's weakness. Ren was trying to close with and engage Weiss in close combat where his height and dual wield weapons had a massive advantage over Weiss, whereas the heiress was trying to keep a reasonable distance so she could use _Myrtenaster_ and her glyphs to full effect and going in close for quick strikes using her speed glyphs before using a 2nd glyph to extricate herself from the fight before she got bogged down into close quarters with Ren where he had the advantage.

Ren kept his face passive as he ejected the magazine from one of his pistols, reloading another out of pure muscle memory while still on the move, strafing Weiss, vaulting over the restraint glyph's that Weiss put in his way to ensnare him, or at the very least throw him off course. Ren expertly dodged each glyph, zigzagging closer to the heiress until he was nearly on top of her when he faked a kick which Weiss fell for, instead slamming the points of the blades on his SMG's into the heiress' chest, sending her reeling back in pain.

Ren's face pulled into the slightest smirk as he pushed his advantage, using his knowledge of martial arts to launch a volley of fakes and bluffs, each time fooling Weiss and each time punishing her for falling for his ruses.

Weiss was not impressed at getting bested by Ren, flourishing _Myrtenaster_ Weiss changed the active dust cartridge to red and with the assistance of a glyph unleashed a large wall of flame right towards Ren who was caught off guard and had to reverse direction on a dime to avoid the worst of the flame, even so the green gunman's clothing was singed and his face covered in soot. Ren coughed slightly as he regained his composure only to be met by flying chunks of razor sharp ice being propelled at him by a glyph. Not being able to dodge them all Ren took to shooting the chunks out of the air with his SMG's while dodging some of the larger, more bullet proof chunks.

This strategy was going well until the inevitable happened: Ren ran out of ammo. With this Weiss smirked "My Turn Ren!" She said with a competitive tone as she placed a speed glyph under herself and charged Ren, her Rapier acting more like a jouster's lance than a sword. Ren saw this at the last moment and without time to dodge or retaliate he did all he could: drop his SMG's and use his immense control of his aura to stop the piercing blade before it could impact with him, just as he had with the King Taijitu during initiation before he'd found Nora. The move worked and Weiss impacted his barrier, which sent her barrelling over Ren, her momentum not stopping just because her weapon's had. Weiss rolled several times across the ground, losing her grip on _Myrtenaster _which stopped several feet away from the Heiress.

Ren smirked and picked up his SMG's, taking his time to reload them, he was beginning to tire so was in no rush to attack the heiress as she slowly got back up to her feet.

Ruby and Nora were keeping their distance, trying to tear down the other's aura at range with high calibre rounds or explosives. "Weeeee" Nora cried happily as she bounced around, firing grenades at Ruby who was zigzagging around firing off rounds at the berserker bomber when she wasn't avoiding the pink grenades, that oddly exploded into clouds in the shape of love hearts, but Ruby decided to put off asking Nora how she did that until she wasn't the target of said explosives.

Ruby decided enough was enough, once Nora fired off her next grenade Ruby pointed her rifle away from the bomber and fired, using the recoil to augment her semblance and close the distance as quick as she could, _Crescent Rose_ completing its transformation into scythe mode a mere millisecond before Ruby swung at the flat footed Valkyrie, who was caught completely off guard and was sent flying by the sheer force that Ruby delivered her strike to Nora's abdomen. Looking at the aura gauge Nora noticed her Aura was now in the orange, getting dangerously close to the red zone, but so was everyone else in this fight.

"Oh nice hit Ruby, time to return the favour!" Nora said gleefully as she jumped up, her pupils dilating as she transformed _Magnhild_ into its Warhammer mode, Nora was now really a berserker as she unleashed a shrilling war cry before charging Ruby swinging the mighty hammer as hard as she could down at the reaper. Ruby however smirked at the challenge and swung her own _Crescent Rose_, the curved blade of the scythe clanging against the shaft of the hammer, just below the head of the weapon. The pair continued to trade blows, at such a quick place that those looking on at the pair only saw a red blur and a pink/white/orange blur colliding several times a second.

Nora swung at Ruby who dodged the swing before lodging _Crescent Rose_ into the ground and using as a horizontal bar, swinging around it and slamming her feet into Nora's ribcage before the berserker bomber could recover from her last swing, reeling back Nora was now on the back foot. Ruby quickly grabbed her scythe back up and charged in using her semblance, Nora hadn't fully recovered yet but even though her Aura was getting low the berserker bomber was not even beginning to get low on energy. Firing a grenade Nora propelled herself towards the red reaper, swinging her hammer in mid-air, the weapons meeting in mid-air, the sound of metal on metal screeched through the air as Nora and Ruby jostled for position. Unfortunately for Ruby, Nora was the stronger of the two and was better at grinding close quarters combat as Ruby preferred to keep on the move.

Slowly but surely, Nora pushed Ruby, bending her back towards the ground at an angle that the human spine was not meant to bend to. Ruby's legs gave out and she fell to the arena floor, Nora on top of her with _Crescent Rose _pinned under the bomber's legs as Nora pushed the shaft of _Magnhild_ onto Ruby's throat, causing the red reaper to go blue in the face as the metal bar put massive pressure on to Ruby's trachea. Eventually before any permanent damage could be done, Glynda stepped in and with a whish of her crop separated the two combatants and moved Ruby to the edge of the arena to be checked over by the on duty nurse for injuries.

Up in the stands Yang was beyond angry, being restrained by Blake, Pyrrha and Jaune to stop her from charging down to the arena and giving Nora a piece of her mind… and her fist.

"Let me go!" the blonde brawler hissed at her friends.

"No Yang, this is for your own good!" Blake said as she reached for _Gambol Shroud_ and whacked Yang in the back of the head with the hilt, knocking the blonde clean out cold to prevent the school being demolished by nuclear Yang fighting Berserker Nora. Simon and Nyanza looked on at the RWBY/JNPR antics and chuckled to each other.

"Was Weiss ever that dangerous of a friend to have Simon?" Nyanza asked, just glad he won't be Blake later as she faces Yang's wrath.

"Nah, well there were a few near-death experiences when she woke up grumpy and I used her as a source of endless jokes throughout the day: our daily combat matches would usually become quite violent, she even cut me a few times she was that ticked off." Simon responded, looking back quite happily on all the jokes he had at Weiss' expense.

Down in the arena Weiss was cornered, once Ren had reloaded his SMG's he had pressed his advantage, kicking away _Myrtenaster_ so that Weiss was completely unarmed. The Heiress had little to know martial arts abilities, Weiss was totally dependent on weapon and her glyphs. Ren moved fluidly as he launched punishing assault after assault on Weiss using kicks, punches, elbows, knees and even a head-butt, all executed to perfection as one would expect from someone as proficient in martial arts as Ren was.

Weiss made one last desperate ploy, hitting Ren with an immobilising glyph the heiress made a desperate dash for her weapon which was by now a good 15m from her, but it was all for naught as the glyph only immobilised Ren's legs, but Weiss did not realise this as she dashed for _Myrtenaster_ until she was pelted in the back with rounds from Ren's weapons sending Weiss' aura straight down to the red.

The glyph around Ren dissipated and he dusted himself off, turning around to see Nora sitting cross-legged at the other end of the arena where she'd have strangled Ruby when she'd gone Berserker, just sitting there looking at Ren and looking slightly upset. Ren knew what this was over:

When he and Nora were younger and just beginning at combat school Nora had gone Berserker during a very gruelling match between the two of them, and when Nora goes berserker there is only one thought going through her mind: KILL! Ren had not ever seen Nora like this before, if he had known what she was like when she fully immersed herself in battle then he would have submitted immediately. But he didn't and he paid the price… Nora went overboard in her attacks and ended up breaking Ren's back, Ren was lucky to not have been paralysed that day and since then Nora never allowed herself to fight Ren, lest she hurt her best friend. It was also why Ren had such poor battle endurance, he'd never fully recovered from the months in hospital.

"Renny I submit, I'm not going to fight you!" Nora said meekly, twiddling her fingers.

"Nora, that happened when we were 13 years old: I think I'm a bit stronger and less fragile now." Ren said quietly as he kneeled in front of his friend.

Everyone up in the stands as well as Miss Goodwitch looked on supremely confused about what was going on before their eyes.

"But I don't want to hurt you again Renny, I could never forgive myself if I ever hurt you again even in the slightest way!" Nora replied, sniffling a little.

"I promise nothing will happen to me Nora, now get up and show everyone what the Queen of the Castle can do." Ren said with a small smile that he knew Nora could never resist.

Nora did her best to resist that subtle smile but she never could, "Ok Ren, you win." Nora said, still kinda nervous as she stood and flourished _Magnhild_.

"There you go Nora, now give me your best shot." Ren said, trying to ignite Nora's competitive spark, he knew his friend would go easy and throw the match if she wasn't coaxed into giving her all.

Ren flourished his weapons and assumed his ready stance, waiting for Nora to make the first move. Nora nervously smiled before charging in, swinging _Magnhild_ down at her friend hard, but not with her full force. Ren back flipped out of the way and unleashed a burst of fire from his SMG's hitting Nora square in the chest. Nora grunted and charged again, this time not holding back, but once again Ren's agile fighting style allowed him to dodge Nora's strike.

"Nora you're moving like a sloth, try your hardest and I'll make my special pancakes for you later." Ren called out to his friend, knowing that if the enticement of pancakes wouldn't get Nora trying her hardest than nothing would.

The word "pancakes" piqued Nora's attention and she suddenly began moving at a pace that would make Ruby jealous.

"PAAAAAAAAAAAAANCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKES!" She cried as she swung at Ren repeatedly, Ren was honestly surprised at how quickly his friend could swing that hulking hammer she used, smiling widely that his friend was finally putting her fears for his safety behind her, Ren jumped over one swing and sprung back up while Nora recovered from the swing to kick her in the forearm, causing Nora to loosen her grip on _Magnhild_. Ren backed this up with an elbow into Nora's breadbasket, causing the bomber to fall to her knees dropping her weapon to gasp for air. Ren went to finish off his lightning fast dismantling of Nora but his last kick was grabbed out of the air by Nora and Ren found himself being flung across the room by Nora who picked up _Magnhild_ and charged Ren who was still in the process of picking himself up.

Ren managed to roll desperately out of the way of Nora's punishing hammer strike and fire a burst from his SMG's at the Valkyrie, but they did nothing to stop Nora's next strike which landed cleanly into Ren's abdomen, sending him flying and draining his aura deep into the red, ending the match in favour of Nora/Weiss.

Nora bounced happily as Ren picked himself up and dusted himself off, barely a moment before Nora jumped up on his back "Onward my noble Sloth steed! Time for PANCAKES!" Nora said happily, Ren happy to oblige his lifelong friend as he ran out of the arena, a most happy Nora laughing as he went.

Miss Goodwitch then decided wisely to dismiss the class then, as there were few possible matchups that could come close to matching the intensity of the just completed match and it was the final class for the day. Blake and Pyrrha looped the still knocked out Yang's arms around their shoulders and made their way back to the Team RWBY dorms to let Yang sleep off being Yanged in the head by Blake.

"Well that certainly was interesting." Simon said as he left the arena with a very happy Nyanza who was now several Lien richer given he had won out bet.

"Yeah it certainly was, but all that matters is that I came away with the Lien." Nyanza teased.

"Ha, well guess you're buying the pizza in Vale this week then mister moneybags!" Simon shot straight back.

"Wait, What?" Nyanza asked confusedly as Simon pulled ahead and headed back towards the SNST dorms.

**Thursday night, Week 7. Downtown Vale, Gregory/Cipher-9's PoV:**

It had been a rough week for me, I hadn't known the Snipers too long but I still felt very cut up about what had happened to Kale, he was still in coma and Shauno hadn't been sober all week, mainly spending his time with the sniper from the Head Hunter's Alpha Team. Simon I knew was up and about but was walking wounded, banned from combat or leaving Beacon without supervision. I was still trying to chase down clues about This Gary Granite that had gone missing. I'd checked his work place, phone, bank records, known associates, but finding very little to give any indication of where he'd gone, assuming it was Vacuo we had agents at our embassy in Vacuo ready to pick him up and bring him straight back to me.

But tonight was not part of that assignment, tonight I was hunting for Levi. My friend had been quite active this week, thinking he could operate with impunity: 20 dead deserters, a Faunus family burnt alive, others beaten and assaulted, businesses trashed. The _Black Fist _was becoming emboldened with the death of _White Fang_ leadership thanks to Simon and the snipers. I knew I'd promised to inform Simon if Levi turned up, but I felt that he was still too weak from the weekend to deal with Levi and would be a burden in this.

I was alone and on foot tonight, Watcher-27 was elsewhere with Fixer-66 securing the latest batch of deserters to be sent out of Vale, this group was going to the Mistralan Island colony of Straltis which controlled the trade routes between Atlas, Vale and Mistral. Many of this group of deserters had come from vacuo prior to their _Black Fist _service and thus may face reprisals for returning to the desert kingdom, thus the change of destination.

Running across the rooftops of Vale, by path illuminated by my thermal goggles as it was a moonless night I heard a series of gunshots and several voices yelling or crying a couple blocks over. I immediately changed direction, drawing my daggers and readying my flamethrower gauntlets for battle. I knelt near the edge of a roof, peering down into the alley below, seeing about 6 or 7 masked thugs armed with sawed off shotguns, pistols and Death-adder SMG's. I also saw standing in the shadows was Levi himself, just standing there, seemingly supervising the destruction and beatings of a father while his wife and kids watched. I saw one aim his pistol at the father, deciding enough was enough I threw one of my daggers with deadly precision, going right through the thug's heart, I jumped down, landing boot first on the head of another thug, extracting immediately my dagger from the first one who now lay dead on the ground, this all happened before the pistol from the first thug hit the ground.

"How about picking on someone who can fight back? Or are you thugs as bad as the _White Fang_ were during the 2nd crusade?" I asked mockingly as I flourished my daggers holding one overhanded and the other underhanded.

"Well Gregory, long time no see, ever since you stole the pleasure of killing Simon from me. I heard the Fang nearly stole that privilege, I thought he was better than to let a bunch of animals get the jump on him?" Levi asked condescendingly as he stepped out of the shadows, his tomahawks still holstered.

"Says the one whom I saved repeatedly, you know before you became an ass." I shot back, flicking my eyes from Levi to the remaining thugs, I heard the Faunus family running away back into their home while they had the chance.

"I was weak then, but now I'm strong… whereas you and Simon forsook your strength for compassion and this false idea that not doing anything it takes to win this war against these animals is the way to bring peace!" Levi spat venomously.

"Are you even listening to yourself you indoctrinated, stubborn son of a bitch?" I asked frustrated.

"Yes, I'm hearing myself speak the truth. Now Gregory, it is time for you to die! Boys I'll handle this one." Levi said as he drew his tomahawks, a sick, deranged smile on his face, made all the more creepy by the fact he seemed to have taken to wearing contacts that made his eyes look pure white: no sign of pupils or iris'.

I took the initiative and hosed the entire area down with fire dust, the remaining thugs all fell, burning and screaming in agony as the skin melted right off of their bones. Levi however had leapt up into the air and now perched himself on a shopfront, above the burning field of death I'd created.

"I know you well enough now Gregory, or is it just Cipher-9 now? You never did answer my question about whether or not you give up your name." Levi said casually up above me.

"To you it will always Gregory: I know the real Levi is still somewhere in that broken mind, you never were a bad person, none of us really were…. We were all just broken, and what is broken can be fixed. Simon and I did, and with the proper care I know you can as well." I said, pleading with Levi, not wanting to have to hurt my friend.

"Soft Gregory, and you'll pay for that with your life." Levi said a moment before letting rip with the inbuilt SMG's in his tomahawks. I vaulted behind a fallen beam, hearing the .45 calibre rounds pinging off the metal.

I reached to my back where my own Death-adder was strapped, rolling out of cover I fired at where Levi had been, only hitting empty space. I stepped further out into the open, my weapon still raised, trying to find where Levi was but the fire and streetlights were fucking up my thermals and the rooftops were too dark to see a human outline. I heard a cackling laugh a moment before I felt a savage boot to my back as Levi got the jump on me.

I stumbled, my back in pain but I kept my footing. "You sneaky little shit!" I snarled.

"Says the one whose entire career is built upon springing out of the shadows to kill unsuspecting prey like you did to my men only moments ago." Levi shrugged condescendingly.

I retaliated immediately by dousing the area again in fire, estimating about 2/3 of the dust in my right gauntlet having been used by now. Levi cartwheeled out of the danger zone without much difficulty.

"Tut-tut Gregory, why don't we settle this like men." Levi said as he dropped his tomahawks to the ground.

"Ballsy move Levi, ok I'll play your game but I'm going to pummel you bloody then I'm taking you in to get some serious help." I said as I dropped my Death-adder before removing my gauntlets and the sheaths containing my daggers. I then assumed a boxer stance, cracking my knuckles. "Your move Hartman."

Levi immediately lunged in with a serious of high-low-high kicks, I pushed each one away with a forearm. Once Levi had finished his kicks I retaliated with a left jab followed up by a lightning fast right hook before Levi could adequately raise his defences to block me. Levi back flipped away before running back in, this time vaulting up and over me, latching onto my shoulders, dragging me down with him, bending my already injured back at angles it was not meant to go. Levi rolled forward while I was sprawled out on the ground. Groaning as I rolled myself up slowly Levi was right back on the attack, punting me in the chin, knocking me on my back.

"Weak Gregory! You call yourself a Cipher Agent? Pathetic!" Levi spat as he dived on top of me and placed me in a chokehold.

I instantly felt the pressure, him landing on me had squeezed the air out of my lungs and now I was gasping for air as I felt my throat being crushed. But Levi was still a very small, light person compared to myself: I was at least 25cm taller and had about 40kg on Levi and all of that 40kg was muscle. Slowly but surely I managed to stand, Levi still latched onto me. I then just flopped onto my back, squashing Levi between the ground and myself. I audibly heard several of Levi's ribs break as his grip released and he howled in pain and anger. I rolled off of Levi and stood back picking up my Death-adder and aiming it at Levi.

"It's over Levi, I've won and I'm taking you in!" I said, my tone pained from the injury in my back that Levi had inflicted.

Levi began laughing "You can think that all you want Gregory, but we both know I'm not going quietly, you'll have to kill me." My friend said maniacally as he dragged himself up, clutching his ribcage.

"Not happening Levi, I know what happened to Sarah has damaged you….. I hate the _Fang_ just as much as you do, but not all Faunus need to suffer for their travesties. The _Fist_ is not what we thought it was when we were orphans, it hasn't been an organisation to defend humans for as long as we've been fighting for it! See sense Levi!" I pleaded, trying to break through the mental scarring Levi had.

Levi shook his head "Of course it isn't, humanity is no longer in need of defending. We aren't on the back foot and we haven't since that assault on the _White Fang's_ Atlesian stronghold that finished the _Highlands War_. No, now it is time for humanity to take the offensive and finish the job we began in the _Faunus Rights Revolution_! The Faunus must be put in their place." Levi shot back, sucking in a deep breath.

Before I could respond Levi lunged for his tomahawks, causing me to open fire with the Death-Adder. Several rounds did catch Levi, but I did not know if any penetrated his Aura. I could hear the sickly wheezing that was a tell-tale sign that Levi had punctured a lung. My friend grabbed hold of his tomahawks and proceeded to run down the road, a van halting at the next intersection, its door opening to reveal several more armed thugs, however they refrained from firing, instead merely dragging the injured Levi inside and speeding off as the sound of sirens closed in. I swore under my breath that Levi had escaped and that more innocent lives will be lost before I find him again, but I felt some consolation in the fact he would probably be out of action, judging by the blood splatters that Levi had left behind, he had at least one bullet wound.

I slumped against a low wall, reaffixing my gauntlets and daggers while waiting for the police and EMTs, my back was inflamed and stiff, I'd probably torn a muscle and I was in no condition to run across rooftops to avoid being detected. I didn't care if the cops found me here, one flash of my Cipher credentials and no questions would be asked this entire incident would be covered up, no newspaper reports of it and the family would be sworn to secrecy by the police. Such was the power and fear that the mere sight of a _Vale Intelligence_ Cipher agent had, and people were right to fear us… We operated with only 1 rule: Stop any and all dangers to the peace, safety and stability of Vale. We had no oversight into our methods which included summary executions, disappearing, torture, threats, and extortion. The fear we instilled had its uses when it came to dealing with police and our enemies, but I didn't like the fact that those we swore to protect saw us as the monsters in the closet, ready to take them away into the night and never be heard from again for even the slightest transgression. The first VPD car appeared and its officers exited, guns drawn and yelling at me. _'Well time to be the bogeyman that the VPD thinks I' am.'_ I thought as I reached for my credentials.

**Several Hours Later: Unknown Location, Levi's PoV:  
**I'd spent the whole time since I'd returned to the HQ of the _Black Fist's _Vale Regiment in the medbay, a bullet had ricochet and struck me in the left calf muscle, it wasn't serious but it had bled quite a lot. Now I stood in the Commander's office, before me sat a man who looked about 40, but I knew him to really be 29 years old. His sunken, emotionless eyes looked bored at me.

"Levi, this is the 2nd time that you've allowed this Cipher Agent to escape your clutches after he has disrupted what was meant to be a simple mission, both times outnumbering him but being soundly beaten nonetheless, is it my men whose capability is lacking or is it your own weakness?" Came the question, asked in a most sadistic tone.

I gulped, I knew the commander didn't suffer failure lightly and there would be punishments for someone. "It was my fault, I tried to go toe to toe with the agent and his superior size and strength got the better of me, my own ego is what caused my failure to eliminate both the Faunus and the Cipher." I said passively, not meeting the commander's eyes.

The commander merely nodded "Well tomorrow you'll receive 30 lashes in front of the entire unit as an example of what happens to people who fail me repeatedly. Do not fail me again Levi, I was assured that your personal connection to Simon and this Cipher agent would not inhibit your ability to dispose of them and the snipers as I commanded" Came the emotionless reply as I was admonished for my failure.

"I assure you that my history has only enhanced my ability to do my job, I want to see all deserters suffer their deserving fate for what they did to me and the rest of us left behind." I said automatically, the response memorised off by heart ever since I'd been ordered to hunt down deserters.

"Good, now get out of my sight, I have other matters to attend to." The commander ordered, turning away from me and towards a projector screen behind him.

"As you command Lachlan." I said as I exited the office to raid the medical bay for pain suppressants to take prior to my punishment.

**A/N:** Very saddening news came my way: Sir Christopher Lee CBE, CStJ. Passed away aged 93. He has had a hand in so many movies and touched so many lives with his acting work or his metal music. He will be missed and remembered by millions whether it be as the Wizard Saruman or as The Dark Lord of the Sith, Count Dooku or any of his other roles. The Force has set you free.


	41. The Opening Moves pt2

**A/N: **CC here with the next instalment of _From Hunted to Hunter_. Finals are well underway here, but I'm not stressed at all as I've already passed all my subjects, it is now just a matter of whether or not I get credits or distinctions as final marks this semester. I'm working at a quicker pace because I want to have the first semester's events of this story completed by the time that RWBY volume 3 gets underway in about two months.

I'm going to be trying to include Team RWBY, JNPR and CFVY more as this story progresses so I can get more used to the main cast's personalities and writing them in preparation for things I have planned in the future so I apologise in advance if some characters seem a little OOC at first.

Sorry the update is a bit late: Went away for a couple days unexpectedly over the weekend and didn't have a chance to upload before I left.

Not a lot of action in this chapter….. But next chapter has a heap of it so stay tuned for that.

**Chapter 40: The opening Moves Pt2. Friday Week 7. Unknown Location. Lachlan McLean's PoV:**

I didn't particularly enjoy watching Levi get the flesh cleaved off his back with a lash, but it was required to reinforce to the denizens working for me that failure will be punished. These men with me with a few exceptions were just thugs and wannabe tough guys, not the professional soldiers or seasoned militiamen that manned the once proud Regiments of the _Black Fist_. Walking back to my office I readied my transmitter, I had to contact my current boss. I sat back and stared into the flickering projector as it came to life and connected me to the mysterious agent known as _The Queen_.

"Ahh Lachlan, I trust you have good news for me." The distorted voice spoke from the flickering projector, not even showing the vaguest outline of this mysterious person.

"That I do. We're progressing through the first phase, destabilisation and provocation of the general Faunus population has begun in earnest, businesses and homes raised, drive-by shootings and lobbing grenades in the poorer neighbourhoods. Just as you predicted nothing more than footnotes being reported and it is being blamed on Faunus gangs mostly, not us but the Faunus know it is us behind it." I responded, having followed the orders I'd been given to the letter to incite violence among the Faunus.

I heard a slight laugh through the distortion "Good, keep inciting violence, keep killing and pillaging, show no mercy or distinction between potential _White Fang_ combatant and Faunus civilian." Came the voice, an ember haze appearing around where I assumed _The Queen's_ eyes were.

I felt compelled to obey the orders I was given, not only because I took extreme satisfaction in hunting those animals the Faunus but something just clicked in my mind, compelling me not to think, only obey this voice.

"It will be done, my men will leave the streets of the Faunus quarter running red with the blood of their women and children and their homes bombed and burning, all the while it will be ignored by those in power too weak to see through the façade of peace they think they rule over in this rotten kingdom." I replied with a fresh bloodlust as I began mentally drawing up plans on how to achieve maximum effect for minimal effort.

"One more thing Lachlan. Whatever it is you plan on doing, you need to draw as many police away from the Dust district, my other agents have plans in that area and need a window of opportunity to strike." The order was firm and clear as the projector flickered off, not giving me a chance to respond.

I raised an eyebrow at the last part, I didn't particularly like having my noble cause being reduced to a mere distraction, but I knew better than to disobey _The Queen_, I'd heard more than enough rumours of what happens to those who displease her than to go against her orders. Reaching for the flask of whiskey on my desk I took a swig, contemplating exactly where this course of following the mysterious _Queen_ would take me and my men and how many would not come out the other side as we finally began putting the Faunus in their place, just as we had in Atlas before everything went to hell.

**Beacon, Simon's PoV:**

"Teal! Hurry up, you've been in there for 45 minutes already!" I re-entered the dorm after a run to hear Nyanza screaming at and banging on the bathroom door.

"Shut up Nyanza, you can't rush perfection." Came the smartarsed reply from Teal who must have been getting ready for class.

"I swear Teal I'm going to steal one of Simon's grenades and blast this door open!" Nyanza screamed back, looking like he was probably going to piss himself in the next few minutes if Teal didn't get out.

"Nyanza, you will NOT be using my grenades to breach a door: those things are designed to create shrapnel which would take you out in the process. I think I got some D2 mouldable explosive that we could use to blow the lock and hinges without destroying the rest of our room in the process." I said with an evil chuckle.

"Simon if you do that I will make you regret it!" I heard Teal whine as she got ready.

"I'm sure you will, but be careful about breaking out your chains or whips…. You'll excite Nyanza too much." I said casually, hearing an annoyed yet hushed scream from the bathroom.

"Simon, you have to spend the weekend with us. You could at least try not to make her want to kill you?" Sienna said as she brushed her hair on her bed.

"Yeah, or I could spend the weekend with _Snowflake_ and Team RWBY?" I said, not really intending on doing that…. Yang probably still wanted to put me in hospital for my fight with Blake and well I still wanted to avoid Blake, there was too much that could go wrong there.

"Please do Simon!" I heard an annoyed Teal say as she exited the bathroom, almost being knocked over by a speeding Nyanza who slammed the door closed behind him. Moments later a relived sigh echoed throughout the room.

Teal and Sienna both looked quite amused and mildly disturbed by just how relived Nyanza sounded. I rolled my eyes at the entire scene _'Dust help you 2 if you ever meet Gregory and properly meet the Snipers.'_ I thought, knowing the humour preferred by my friends would drive Teal and Sienna mad and embarrass them both a lot.

Looking at my timetable for the day I had a free period first up, I decided to go to the forge and to some maintenance on my weapons, I hadn't had a detailed look at my weapon's and their internal components since I was injured so there were probably a few things in need of replacing. Nyanza exited the bathroom, the look on his face one of pure euphoria.

"So did you see lefty or righty today?" I asked as I picked up my uniform to go have a shower and get ready for class.

"Haha, very funny Simon you pervert. You have no idea how long this evil wench made me wait just to take a piss!" Nyanza cursed, pointing at Teal.

"You calling me a pervert? Well that's just the height of hypocrisy. Sienna, try to keep the peace." I said tonelessly as I shut the door.

By the time I exited the bathroom the rest of my team had already gone to breakfast, I decided to skip it and head straight for the forges to inspect my weapons for any damage. Arriving in Beacon's forge I set myself up on a work station tucked away in the back corner of the forge. I laid my gun staff: _Umbra Vigilans _onto the station, clamping it in place before I retrieved some tools needed to open up the protective casing and inspect the internal components.

Upon my return I set to work removing the outer armoured casing which itself had several small chips, dents and scratches to reveal the inner components, I wasn't surprised by what I found: several of the moving parts that worked to extend the blades, the forward hand grip for when I switch to machine gun mode and the firing mechanism for the flechettes all had been either broken or dislodged. I sighed and began jotting down what I'd need to fix this. Looking to the blades themselves I manually extended them while wearing a chainmail glove that hung at the work bench in order to handle razor sharp blades.

The forward blade literally fell apart as I extended it, its internal structure and bindings completely destroyed. I swore to myself in several different languages before discarding the ruined blade to be melted down and turned into new parts for Beacon student's weapons. Looking to the rear blade I got a magnifying lens and looked it over, finding no major structural damage or weaknesses but I decided to replace the blade regardless, it had been a few months since I'd replaced it so it was certainly due. I was pretty pissed by this point, my weapon was an extension of myself and if it was broken then I was not whole. Once I'd completed an inspection of my staff I made my way over to a locker that I'd been allotted in order to store the spare parts and maintenance gear I'd brought with me from _White Castle_.

Upon returning to my workstation I saw that I wasn't alone. Buzzing over my dismantled weapon was a familiar girl sporting her distinctive red cloak. "Hello Ruby." I said, kinda glad that if I had to have company right now it was someone like Ruby who knew their way around weapons.

The young reaper froze and turned to face me with a slightly startled look. "Oh hey Simon, I promise I wasn't touching, I was just admiring. You certainly have an eye for good weapons: This, your gauntlets and that awesome sniper rifle you got."

"Not to worry Ruby, I know that you of all people would respect other people's weapons. Also Thanks, I try to make sure I only have the best. You here to work on Crescent Rose?" I asked as I paid the spare parts on the work bench and opened up my toolbox.

"Yeah, my sweetheart needs a tune up and some parts replaced after yesterday. Can't believe Nora beat me so easily." Ruby replied, somewhat despondently.

"We all lose sometimes Ruby, it's better to lose in these arena matches where Miss Goodwitch will ensure no real harm comes to us than it is to lose outside of school where the consequences for the slightest slip up or lapse in guard is fatal. But you put up one hell of a fight when you were forced out of your familiar combat technique, going toe to toe with Nora takes real guts." I commented, steering the conversation away from her loss and to learning from it as I began using tweezers to remove fragments of broken parts out of the internal workings of my staff.

Ruby was still hovering over my shoulder as I did this, seemingly off in her own little world before she set herself up on the bench next to me. "What did you do to that poor weapon to cause it so much pain?" I heard a visibly saddened Ruby say, referring to my weapon as if it was a living person. But I felt it wasn't just about my weapon she was asking about. Looking over to Ruby I could see slight guilt and worry on her face.

"Ruby, none of what happened to me is your fault of had anything to do with you. I don't know what you have to feel guilty over." I reassured the younger captain deciding to ignore the question of how this happened.

"Yeah, but you're Weiss' friend. She has been so upset since she heard what happened to you." Ruby replied, it was then I understood Ruby's reasoning for checking up on me…. For her teammate and my friend. I was actually quite impressed at how well Ruby seemed to take being thrust into a position of leadership.

"Well you can assure Weiss that I'm still alive and kicking, so she shouldn't worry herself over me…. Though if she was that worried she'd have come seen me." I added on slightly bitterly as I turned to face my weapon again, affixing new parts where old ones had failed.

"That's kinda my fault…. She wanted to come see you but I was kinda behind on my assignments for Professor Port. Weiss agreed to help me and by the time I was all caught up, you had already been discharged." Ruby confessed guiltily as she turned to face her work.

My expression softened that Weiss was beginning to learn to put others before herself. The Weiss I knew at _White Castle_ would never even think of stopping what she was doing to help another person especially one of lower social standing such as Ruby. It gave me just that little bit more faith in humanity. Ruby and I continued to work in silence for a while until about half an hour later my scroll buzzed, it was Velvet.

_V: Just wondering if you'd want to hang out at lunch in Beacon Gardens with my team? Yatsuhashi made some of his dumplings. Your team is welcome as well._

I thought about it, my Team already knew about Velvet and I and I'm sure Coco had gleaned that information from Velvet… I could sense the antics from here, but I decided to swallow my pride and give my team a shot of acting somewhat normal in public.

_S: Yeah we'll be there, let's just hope my team doesn't act like the last time you saw them._

I returned to my work, I'd managed to replace most of the broken parts, now I just had to put the new blades into place.

"So Simon I got a question: about Weiss." I heard Ruby ask, her head still buried in the internal workings of _Crescent Rose_.

"Yes Ruby?" I replied as I carefully put the new retractable blades into place.

"I've tried asking her about her family because she always looks on jealously when Yang and I are goofing off and being sisterly." Ruby asked, her voice once more filled with worry.

"Ruby while I applaud you for trying to learn about your teammate, it isn't my place to say…. I'm Weiss' bodyguard and confidante, I can't expect her to confide in me if I'm just going to just tell her partner. Give her time, she'll eventually come around." I replied feeling a burden come off my shoulders seeing that Weiss was in good hands now, I had worried how she would react being in an unfamiliar environment such as Beacon especially with me up to my neck in my own problems.

I heard Ruby grumble frustrated at my response.

"Ruby, it took me months and months to gain Weiss' trust… you've known her for less than two, you can't rush these things." I explained, trying to make my voice sound as soft as possible.

Ruby nodded understandingly her face looking thoughtful, "Did she really save your life?" Came the next question from the infinitely curious Ruby.

I sighed, putting down my tools "Yeah, she saved me… in more ways than she'll ever know." I added the last part in my head before returning to place the outer casing back onto my weapon in order to polish it.

"What's the inscription on the shaft?" I heard Ruby ask as she once again hovered over my shoulder seeing the quote I'd carved into my weapon. It took a lot of effort to not snap at the curious teenager, I honestly wondered if Ruby realised how annoying she could be.

"It is a quote from an old, wise man. It means that if you're going to fight the evil in this world you must ensure that you never stoop to their level and use their monstrous tactics to achieve victory or you yourself have merely become a monster to replace those you've destroyed." I replied, having spent many long hours contemplating that quote with regards to my life.

"So it's basically a warning to all the heroes out there?" Ruby replied rather innocently.

I chuckled as I polished my weapon "The world isn't just good heroes and evil villains Ruby…. There is a lot of grey area in between." I explained to the idealistic girl.

Ruby looked slightly confused "You mean bad people who do good things or good people who do bad things?"

I could only smile at how innocently Ruby saw the world…. Whether or not it was true innocence or just one that manifested itself in her mind to protect her from the true horrors of the world as a sort of coping mechanism. I truly hoped it was the first option, because if it was the latter of those options then someday this sweet girl may snap, if she were to lose it one day she'd do things that would make even my worst deeds seem almost saintlike. I shook that thought from my head but a frown had already manifested across my face which drew a curious yet worried look from Ruby.

"Don't worry about it, just remembered something. Listen it was nice talking with you Rubes while I worked…. We should do this again, it was relaxing." I said, distracting the redhead.

"Umm thanks, I always enjoy working on _Crescent Rose_, it's the one time I really feel chilled out." Ruby responded.

"I can see that you do seem to shy away from crowds. I can understand that. Well cya, and say hi to Weiss for me if you can." I said, waving as I left, feeling better now than I had when I'd arrived in the forge with a broken weapon.

Returning to my team's dorm I cleaned myself up and changed into my Beacon uniform before leaving to head down to the garden's to meet with Team CFVY for lunch, shooting off a text to Sienna asking if she wanted to join, deciding that CFVY wasn't ready to exactly deal with Teal and Nyanza's antics and that I didn't want to waste this opportunity to spend time with Velvet having to stop them from trying to kill each other.

I walked through Beacon with an extra spring in my step and a completely shameless and goofy grin upon my face. I could see the confused looks upon people's faces as I walked through the halls looking happy as a clown, not even seeing Jaune slaving away to his CRDL masters could make me feel less happy or guilty in any way that I could have stopped his indentured servitude.

It was a sunny day in Vale today, the sun warming my skin gently and a coolish breeze blew. Frankly today seemed like an almost perfect day. I entered the gardens and quickly found Team CFVY as well as Sienna who had beaten me here and was happily munching on a dumpling next to Yatsuhashi.

"Ahh Simon, we were just talking about you." I heard Coco say with a casually teasing tone.

I was instantly on guard, trying to think of anything that Sienna could tell Coco. It must have told on my face because everyone except Fox began chuckling who smirked upon hearing everyone else's laughter.

"Don't worry _Mon Capitaine_, I promise I didn't divulge anything embarrassing, well apart from your temper, and mood swings, and perpetually offensive humour as well as that one time you shot me with your weapon during initiation." Sienna said, an annoyed tone piercing her voice when she mentioned how we met and became partners.

I facepalmed myself mentally, making a note to get Sienna back later as I sat down tentatively next to Velvet. A smirk came upon Coco's face, it seems the girl wasn't all sass and attitude.

"You two really look good together, though Simon I think you really do need a new style: short clipped hair, camo uniforms and scowls just don't complement your personality at all." The CFVY Captain joked as she fed Fox a dumpling, despite the blind boy's protestations.

I just raised an eyebrow "The only 'style' I ever need is a combat style…. Doesn't matter what I wear so long as I'm kicking ass." I retorted, this conversations reminding me of one I had with Weiss many months ago.

Velvet chuckled that someone was being sassy back at Coco, Queen of Sass. Coco on the other hand looked like she'd just been backhanded. "Well then, I'll just have to sit in on some of your matches…. See if you're as good as your ego thinks it is." Coco replied defending her vanity.

"I'm better than my ego thinks I' am." I shot straight back, not going to back down to Coco of all people whose vanity easily dwarfed Weiss' and I didn't think that possible when I had first met _Snowflake_.

"You're confident Simon, I'll give you that…. But there's a line between being cocky and you're flirting with it." I heard Fox comment, those eerily white eyes staring right at me. I resisted the urge to stare back at him, knowing that it would accomplish nothing at all.

Before I could come up with a smartarsed remark to fire back at Fox that didn't involve insulting his eyes I literally had a dumpling shoved in my mouth by Velvet much to the amusement of everyone present, I guess she knew what I was about to do. Half chewing, half choking I managed to down the dumpling.

"Ok now I know why Fox was protesting so much about being fed…. Velvet is the gentle one and I nearly suffocated, I'd hate to imagine how Fox fares with Coco." I choked out after I'd swallowed the dumpling.

At this everyone just laughed, I had to admit it was nice to just cut loose after the week I'd had, though I had a lot nagging at the back of my mind I pushed it aside... this time right now was just me, Velvet and my newfound friends.

The unfortunate thing about lunch time is that it is short and the bell warning us that class was about to begin tolled all too early. Yatsuhashi stayed behind to pack up the food as he had a free he had explained that he had a free period after lunch.

"So Simon, going to give Velvet another piggyback?" Coco joked as I offered a hand to help Velvet up.

"If I could I would….. But I'm under threat of most horrible things if I over exert myself for the next two weeks." I replied, shuddering to think of what that Head Hunter medic would do to me if she found out I'd gotten injured.

"And here I though Doctors took oaths to do no harm?" Sienna commented.

"Yes Sienna, except this threat came not from a doctor…. But a soldier, pretty big difference on the 'Do No Harm' part of their oaths." I answered somewhat snarky.

Sienna just rolled her eyes and began walking off to class, she had a survival class with Professor Peach while I once again had to endure a Friday afternoon of Professor Port, that was one thing about Beacon that kinda annoyed both myself and Weiss: The class timetables changed each week, apparently the reason for this was to stop students getting into a set routine, thus becoming complacent. Though I personally thought it Ozpin's idea of fun by trying to catch as many students out entering the wrong classroom as he could.

Walking back towards the exit of the gardens I felt Velvet's hand intertwine with my own, I squeezed her hand slightly while ignoring the exaggerated cooing sounds from a teasing Coco behind us.

"How do you deal with Coco? Is she always either sassy, vain or a complete troll?" I asked Velvet as we walked.

"She's not that bad most of the time….. Only when in public, she is actually pretty caring and protective of us all, to the point of holding us back from danger and throwing herself into it." Velvet replied.

I nodded and sighed happily shooting a sideways glance to Velvet as we walked, I could see a carefree smile on her face and that just made me beam, but that moment faded as the exit to the gardens came into sight and a shy, slightly depressed look came over Velvet's face and she withdrew her hand from mine, causing me much confusion over the sudden shift in the mood of my girlfriend, I saw students, students of Beacon who were either indifferent, covertly or overtly in the case of Team CRDL hostile to the Faunus.

I stopped and turned to face Velvet "Don't be scared or even pay attention to anything they think or say, because none of their BS matters." I said, my voice filled with conviction.

Velvet scratched her ears. "I know but it isn't that…. I just don't like being the subject of gossip and I do prefer keeping my private affairs out of the eyes of the general population." Velvet replied, meekness in her voice betraying the fact she was in fact slightly fearful of what people would think.

I wasn't surprised that Velvet had reacted like this, unlike me, she didn't have the ability to just let what other people say just go in one ear and out the other and she didn't seem the type to simply snot the offenders in the gob to shut them up. Part of me wanted to clasp Velvet's hand and defiantly walk through Beacon hand in hand as a giant _FUCK YOU_ to anyone who discriminates between Faunus-human relationships. But the more rational and compassionate side of me knew that would not be a wise move to put Velvet on the spot like that, rational thought won out over my no-fucks-given attitude towards stranger's opinions and I decided to take this all slowly.

"Ok Velvet, well I'll talk to you after classes." I said, planting the faintest of kisses on Velvet's cheek before turning and walking out of the gardens, whistling an old marching tune that Kruger said the first regiment in the Atlesian military marched to.

**That Night, Fort Amada, Shaun "Shauno" Morgan's PoV:**

I had a pounding headache from a week long bender with various soldiers and airmen at the Fort, but it was better than sitting by Kale's bedside pleading for him to wake up. But tonight I'd been all but hauled out of the Fort's bar and sobered up by the medic and Sniper from the Head Hunter's Alpha Team.

"Snap out of your drunken stupor you poor sonofabitch we've been ordered to clean your scraggly ass up." The female medic scowled as she held a bucket to my face to vomit into.

"I can't believe you encouraged this Auburn…. You should be the one looking after him not me!" The medic, Staff Sergeant Peach complained as I puked my guts up, feeling bloody awful.

"Hey, I thought he needed to blow off a little steam… I didn't know it would come to this." Auburn my former drinking buddy bitched from the doorway.

"Yeah well next time you get shot, I'm going to make sure the painkiller injections hit bone, not muscle!" Peach snarled back as she stood up to go and hopefully find something in her medical kit to alleviate my splitting headaches.

"You better look your best mate, we got a surprise for you." Auburn said, as he handed me his canteen and all but forcing the water down my throat.

It took them a good hour but eventually I was washed and into a freshly washed set of battle dress that Auburn had with him. I was pretty wobbly on my feet, requiring Auburn for support as we walked into the fort's medical centre. I felt a great anticipation and joy, even my drunken mind had worked out what had happened.

I was led into Kale's room to see my closest friend laying in his bed just like the last time I'd seen him, except this time his eyes were open. "Jeez Shauno, you reek of cheap alcohol…. Thought if you were going on a bender you'd at least drink something more than cheap swill." Kale joked, his voice weak and barely audible but the fact he was now awake just overwhelmed me, my legs wobbled as I was eased into a seat and tears fell freely.

"I swear…. You ever try to die on me again and I'll kill you myself." I managed to choke out. The biggest grin you could imagine on my face.

"That make no sense you idiot." Kale replied weakly rolling his eyes before raising his clenched fist which I met with my own.

"Guess we need to get you out of this hospital bed… I think it's time to make the night our hunting ground." I responded, a blood lust that I hadn't felt since my days with the _Fist_ creeping into my mind, to find as many _White Fang _as we could and rack up a body count that would rival our days in the SSB hunting the _Fang._

"We'll see Shauno, but I honestly feel like shit and I'm rather content lying down for now." Kale replied, trying to lighten the mood, obviously jaded and preferring to avoid a return to old ways.

"Take all the time you need… no one here is going to rush you." Peach interjected, as she began running some tests.

A few minutes later Auburn and Peach departed, leaving Kale and I alone. "How is Simon?" Kale asked, wanting to be caught up on what's happened.

"Simon's fine….. he got pretty messed up but that lucky bastard with his fancy aura got him out of here after a few days, he's back at Beacon and apparently under strict orders not to get into any shitfights lest that medic lady crush his balls." I replied with a joking tone.

"Well so long as that guys ok, our lives would be boring without him." Kale said, finishing with a yawn.

"Here you get some sleep, I need to catch some Z's after the week I've had." I replied as I made myself comfortable in the seat to sleep, not going to leave Kale alone, not now, not ever.


	42. The Opening Moves pt3

**A/N: **Hi all, CC here with the 3rd and last chapter I wrote during my Holiday and it begins the climactic events of RWBY volume 1, so buckle up because this is where things really going down for everyone.

To guest reviewer _**Mr T**_: Thanks a lot for the review, I'm glad you've taken the time to read and enjoy my story. I've tried real hard to develop the characters I portray into fully developed people each with their own issues, goals and dreams.

As for the ultimate matchup you suggested….. I'll pass that along to The Keeper for approval.

Speaking of the enigmatic Keeper, I had a very interesting question about him and Ozpin, seemingly the two most well informed men in Vale: Well the two of them are rivals who have a healthy respect for the other man, if not the other's methods

Ozpin the headmaster believes the hunters: The gleaming beacons of hope and freedom for all are the way to keep the peace and prosperity of Remnant alive by being model upholders of the laws and examples of democratic ideals.

The Keeper, Vale's spymaster prefers using the shadows to gather information and then use the information to totally and brutally excise any and all threats or problems from society without oversight or interference from the council, doing the dirty work of ridding Vale of threats so that others can continue believing that all is peaceful in their own blissful world.

Thanks to **xThat One Personx** for asking me that. –CC Signing on.

**Chapter 41: The Opening Moves pt3/ The Battle of Brimstone. Monday Week 8. Vacuo, Colonel Ty Kruger's PoV:**

It had been a long and slow train ride, multiple stops along the way to resupply and stretch our legs but it was always at night and miles away from anything that could be considered civilisation, not that I minded… I was used to this life and it the hardships of it hadn't bothered me for over 30 years, but I had to admit the slight arthritis in my fingers, knees and hips were beginning to slow me down and give me regular discomfort. _'I really need to actually retire… after this I might try Straltis for the quiet life'_ I thought as we stopped once more, the lights of _Brimstone _in the distance.

My adjutant, Captain Corpston stood next to me "I convinced the regimental commander to not actually take us into the town or we'll be dealing with riots in minutes because I can guarantee that we'll be treated as invaders." The captain explained.

"If this was Atlas we'd have bombarded them into dust and starved them into submission, but I guess Vacuo can't afford to bring anything bigger than mortars out this far." I replied in disdain as the other 500 Raiders began dismounting equipment in the background.

"Well lucky that Vacuo is a bit more accepting of independence as it is with other species than the militaristic, racist police state that is Atlas. Your generals, active duty or retired run just about everything." Corpston spat back at me.

"You dislike the military a lot, yet here you are wearing three pips on your shoulders that is the captain's rank." I retorted, not liking this man one bit.

"A necessary evil for me to do my work unlike you where you lived for your uniform and the pieces of fabric that were your regimental colours. Hopefully we find what you're looking for so we can be rid of you and Vacuo will be all the better for it." Corpston replied before turning away and walking towards where two privates had a motorcycle waiting.

"I shall scout ahead….. I know these deserts better than you and if I'm traveling with your unit you'll create too much of a disturbance for me to do my job properly, I'll keep in radio contact." Corpston said as he kicked off and rode off into the night.

"That guy is a dick." I muttered gruffly as I turned to supervise the unloading of our vehicles and supplies.

It was nearly sunrise but we eventually got everything unloaded in total darkness and almost total silence, it was imperative that the citizens of _Brimstone_ not suspect the presence of nearly 500 heavily armed Vacuo militiamen lest we set off an incident with the far too independent city of _Brimstone_.

Once my men had gotten the vehicles dismounted and loaded up I took position in the front passenger seat of the lead vehicle and standing in my seat I gave a hand signal to move forward, My squadron was the first to move, the rest were nowhere near being ready to go…. I held my men to Atlesian standards and though they might bitch they did as I ordered. As we began rolling forward I looked to the small flag attached to the front of my vehicle: A red lion and gold lion battling in the rain, the colours of the local regiment I'd joined so long ago when the Faunus War had begun. seeing it always filled me with pride of the battles we'd won under that banner all over Remnant. I felt it a personal tragedy and a straight up affront to soldiers that it was disbanded to be replaced by robot soldiers.

We moved silently and slowly until we were well away from _Brimstone_ and into the deep deserts, navigation was easy on a moonless, cloudless night like tonight. I instructed all gunners to be ready to engage at a moment's notice, I was NOT going to lose men to Grimm again. Momentarily I removed my NVG's and just stared at the stars, enjoying the tranquillity they provided, I did honestly wish I could retire and be done with this business as I'd promised my wife, kids and grandkids years ago…. But something always popped up that took me far from home and loved ones, I didn't know how they hadn't upped and left me yet. _'Last time out, I promise this time.'_ I thought as I stared into the stars in my own little world as the convoy of 50+ vehicles moved swiftly through the dunes following the transmitter that Corpston had on him.

It was coming day light when my radio crackled "Ty, it's Henry. I just met with some scavengers out here…. They've been scavenging as close as they can to the cave system where your friends are encamped, a couple got too close and warning shots were fired." Came the call.

"Did they discover anything?" I asked, not bothering to ask if the scavengers were ok because warning shots implied no one actually got shot.

"It's best if we discuss this in person, No matter how secure you say these things are, I don't want to run the risk of getting found out. Transmitting meeting coordinates…. And it is best if you come with only 1 vehicle, an entire convoy will be spotted to easily." Corpston all but ordered, his tone one of almost arrogant wisdom.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" I growled at the only slightly younger man.

"I'm not going to answer that, I'll meet you later. Corpston out." And with that the radio clicked off, leaving me red faced with rage.

'_I swear I'm going to shoot him myself if he keeps this up…. He is worse than Kale and Shaun!'_ I thought to myself as I swapped radio frequencies to contact all the other vehicles to give the halt order.

"Driver take us to these coordinates, it appears as if our friend has found something." I ordered to my new driver, and with that we took off, leaving the rest of the unit behind to set up a defensive position.

Driving through the desert I saw multiple wrecks of massive airships and a few tanks, all rotted and rusted, a stark reminder of the Great War and every conflict since including a punitive expedition against led by the Atlesian military to quell anti-Atlas insurrectionists targeting our businesses and citizens in Vacuo with the covert support of the Vacuo council I knew for a fact that a lot of older militiamen had fought against the Atlesians during that pitifully one-sided conflict that saw Atlas nearly send Vacuo bankrupt with paying reparations and I also knew that a lot of people not in my unit held a lot of animosity towards me and I could never say I was too fond of them either, but for better or worse they needed me and I them to work out what was going on out here so no one dared say too much on the subject not even Corpston had touched it and he'd deliberately tried to infuriate me and verbally spar with me over my past almost every hour.

As The sun rose higher I could feel the temperature getting higher, but I wouldn't dare remove the body armour I was wearing, no idea what resided this far out into Vacuo's endless deserts. I heard roars and caws in the distance, denoting the massive desert Grimm, specifically a Nevermore and something I'd never heard before…. It certainly wasn't and Ursa or Beowolf. I tried to put it out of my mind, no need to get paranoid over Grimm at this point in time. The drive ended up taking about an hour to complete, I stopped my driver about a mile short of the meeting point and took the motorcycle attached to the side of the _Desert Rat_ and mounted it.

"Stay out of sight, if you here shooting then charge in guns blazing. I trust these scavengers and desert dwellers as much as I trust a Grimm." I ordered as I kicked off and sped over the dunes towards the designated meeting area, nearly slipping several times on the sand as I sped along as quick as the bike skidded through lose bits of ground. I hit the bottom of the dune and made a mini jump over a hump, enjoying a bit of getting airborne…. I never got to do much motorcycling in the _Black Fist _as I had in the army.

I saw Henry speeding towards me, a dust cloud on his tail, in that dust cloud I saw a patrol vehicle, not dissimilar to the ones used by the _Desert Raiders_ which was firing at Corpston, one of the rounds struck the real wheel of Corpston's motorcycle, sending Corpston careening across the sand at high speed. Much to his credit the 57-year old managed to almost perfectly barrel roll and skidded to a stop already on his feet, his black duster coat flapping in the wind about a 100m from me as he drew a massively oversized revolver, firing the beast one handed 3 times with almost freakish accuracy as for each shot one of the occupants of the patrol vehicle had their head explode in a cloud of various shades of red.

I had to admit I was impressed by Corpston's handling of this rogue patrol. Riding over to the now stopped vehicle I searched the bodies, looking for anything that might identify who these men were, finding the same things I had on the corpses in the command bunker of the last complex we raided "Heh gotcha." I muttered to myself as I pocketed the evidence before Corpston arrived over my shoulder.

"Find anything?" He asked sounding quite flustered.

"Nothing to identify who these men work for….. But judging by the identical uniforms I'd say they are Atlesian." I lied, garnering a sneer from Corpston, making his contempt for Atlas once again well known.

"I don't have time for your anti-Atlas bullshit…. Now why did you call me all the way out here that was important enough for you to be chased here?" I snapped angrily.

"Well the scavengers I'd been working with to recon their encampment has gotten me a layout of their base, a full schematic if where everything is." Corpston replied with a smug grin, knowing he had everything I wanted.

"Good, then hand it over and let's get back to the squadron to get in contact with the other parts of the Regiment." I ordered as I removed the bodies of Corpston's pursuers from the patrol vehicle.

"Umm you know that vehicle was probably tracked right? Taking it with us is a bad idea." Corpston commented with a know-it-all attitude about him.

"Shut it _Captain_, I know what I'm doing…. A little trick I picked up during the Vacuo insurrection." I replied, bringing up the time Atlas demolished Vacuo just to get under Corpston's skin. _'Jeez I've learned from Simon and those damned snipers'_ I thought to myself as I saw Corpston nearly bust a vain.

I ignored him ranting and set to work rigging the dust tank to explode when the ignition was hit, something that had been used against Atlesian patrols in the insurrection before we had enough bullheads to just fly everywhere.

It took me about 10 minutes but I had it all rigged, and just for good measure I added the dust from Corpston's ruined motorcycle just for an added _BANG_.

Satisfied with my work I began walking back the way I came, to see my driver and gunner coming towards me, doing a doughnut as they came to a stop. "Sorry Colonel, we heard gunshots and by the time we crested the hill, the Captain here had already dispatched the enemy, so we kept our distance in case more turned up." My gunner explained as he leaned against his 40mm grenade launcher.

"Not to worry, the Captain and I had a marvellous time." I responded with sarcasm, but secretly glad they didn't come charging in or it would have been more difficult to hide the evidence I'd taken off the bodies, I couldn't have that falling into the Vacuo council's hands or Remnant would be plunged into a conflict much worse than any seen before.

Jumping back into the passenger's seat of the jeep I pointed out the non-totalled bike to Henry "There's your ride back to base…. Do try to keep up, the private here is a rally driver by profession." I said smugly pointing to my new driver.

Henry grunted, obviously unimpressed before turning and walking to the motorcycle as I ordered my driver to speed off, rally style even with me giving directions like a rally car's navigator just because I could.

We were probably about a third of the way back to where my unit was encamped when I heard the same raw from before, the one I had never heard before and the ground shook slightly. I radioed Corpston nervously "Umm what exactly is that?" I asked, hoping the outlander would know.

"That would be a Tyranniss, A large desert Grimm: they somewhat resemble the Tyrannosaurs we see in the museums…. Except these guys are about twice as big and their roars have the same effect as a concussive round to disorientate enemies as well as knocking them and anything else around through the air up to 30m, these guys are the kings of the Desert Grimm. Oh and they also hunt in packs." Corpston said over the radio as several of the monsters ran over a dune to our right.

"Well shit…. Trooper you better drive like you've never driven before. I think they're hungry!" I ordered as I cocked the mounted machineguns in front of me and my gunner readied the grenade launcher.

"Don't bother with guns…. You'll just piss them off, they're heavily armoured around vital areas." I heard Corpston advise over the radio as they drew closer, out pacing the jeep easily.

"Well unless you have a better idea…. I'm leaning towards blowing this guys up!" I snarled back as my gunner loosed the first volley of grenades to, mainly missing but catching one of the smaller of the certainly not so small Grimm in the ankle, causing its foot to be all but amputated and the beast fell, howling in agony.

If Corpston could have seen the smug look on my face he would have tried to smack me in the head, but that look disappeared moments later as the largest of the Grimm got alongside us and slammed its head into the side of our jeep, nearly causing it to flip over had it not been for some skilful handling by my driver Private Ambrose.

"Woo this is way more fun than rally driving!" Ambrose cheered insanely as he swerved and turned among the group of massive Grimm which were slowly boxing us in.

I was firing almost continuously at the Tyranniss whenever they came into my weapon mount's firing arc. One of the Grimm lunged in to try and smash the front of our jeep but Ambrose saw this and jerked the wheel and the handbrake, causing us to drift around the crushing strike, doing a doughnut and swerving back on course, all in the matter of about 3 seconds. Corpston was nowhere in sight, probably using the fact the Grimm were focusing on us to slip by get out of here, fucking coward.

Swinging my machine gun I fired off a burst and managed to get a lucky round in one of the monster's eyes and it fell to the ground, dead. "Boo-yah! Good shot Colonel!" My gunner called out having seen the feat from his mount on the back half of the jeep, lobbing explosive rounds at the remaining 4 or 5 of the beasts.

We had a small lead on the Tyranniss as we went airborne over a massive dune, my stomach sinking as the gunner and myself both held on for dear life as the jeep plummeted a good 15m down the other side, bracing ourselves for the jeep to get totalled. But by some miracle Ambrose managed to land this near 2 ton 6x6 jeep and not bust the suspension, axle or the chassis… a real credit to the driver and whoever made this vehicle.

We sped along the desert going about 70km/h, the Massive Grimm still following us, probably pissed that we'd hurt them and killed their comrades. But even these Grimm were having trouble keeping up with us as we hit some flatter desert ground and Ambrose could really come into his own as a driver.

"How far do you think we are from the rest of the squadron? I've had far too much fun for one day I think." The gunner commented haggardly as he tried to reload his grenade launcher as we sped along.

"Couldn't be too much further, they should have the firepower to make these Grimm think twice about fucking round with us." Ambrose replied, enjoying himself and showing off way too much for my tastes.

It was then that we heard another set of rumbling in front of us, sounding all too similar to the Tyranniss behind us.

"I swear if that isn't more Raiders I'm driving us off a cliff! And we'll survive because I'm a fucking boss." Ambrose growled as he slowed down slightly. Moments later a dozen or so other _Desert Rat_ jeeps rolled to a halt on a ridge in front of us and began pouring fire into the group of Tyranniss about 200m behind us, several rockets were launched as well, killing the Grimm outright.

Ambrose drove us up the ridge and behind the troop, bringing us to a stop near where Corpston was standing by the motorcycle.

"Do I get a thank-you for saving your ass Colonel?" Corpston asked in a smartarsed tone.

Ignoring the Captain I just slumped against the side of the jeep, chugging down half a canteen worth of water, just glad to be on solid ground again. Once I'd caught my breath I stood and turned to my driver "When we get back to Vacuo I owe you a drink…. But for now a promotion to corporal and a medal should suffice as thanks for your driving." I said, sounding very surprised to have survived the encounter.

As an orderly ran off towards one of the comms trucks to fetch a new set of stripes for Ambrose to put on his uniform I turned to Corpston "Please tell me you didn't lose those schematics in that clusterfuck of a meeting?" I asked sternly.

"No I did not….. I'll need access to one of the communications trucks to transmit the schematics to regimental command and let them mull over a plan." Corpston responded dismissively as he walked away towards a comms truck.

**That Night, Vacuo Desert.**

It had been a long afternoon and evening of planning and getting the regiment into position to attack four of the 5 known entrances to the cave system, while Corpston, myself and a dozen or so other heavily armed raiders crawled silently through the desert underneath thermal sheets to mask our heat signatures towards the 5th entrance, hopefully able to sneak in and engage in some sabotage to make the job of the other raiders easier.

I had forgotten just how bad sand was to crawl through, so much worse than snow. I was itching everywhere from sand getting in under my clothes and scratching my skin up pretty badly.

"I swear…. Once this is done I'm done with this soldier boy stuff, how do you old fuckers do this for so long?" I heard one of the soldiers from another squadron who had volunteered for this mission bitch.

"Shut up private." I snapped quietly as we continued our crawl, knowing that one slip up from here on out as we crested the last dune between us and the caves would spell doom for us and every Raider.

It was slow, uncomfortable going as we struggled to move forward while staying underneath the thermal sheets and keeping all the gear on our backs and bellies from making too much noise but eventually we got to about 200m from the smallest, most isolated entrance to this massive cave system that served as housing to the bastards that had been shooting down airships, gunning down scavengers and only dust knows what else, I shuffled in my pocket and withdrew one of the bits of evidence I'd recovered, a simple chess piece: The Black Queen.

What it represented I could really only guess at as it was a rumour, an urban legend that conspiracy theorists loved to prattle on about for years but no one ever believed could possibly be true…. And here I saw corpses of uniformed Atlesians and Vacuans all with the identical piece in their pockets that I'd recovered from both the patrol vehicle and from the first base we'd struck several weeks ago. I was just glad it really wasn't the Atlesian military itself behind this….. But now I had an entirely new set of questions that needed to be answered.

I heard several explosions and the sounds of gunfire, mortars, rockets and the usual cacophony you'd normally here from hundreds of mounted soldiers strafing the complex, this cut off my previous thought process and I prepared for the upcoming battle. Immediately most of the guards that were guarding the 5th entrance abandoned the post and ran to support their comrades in the other areas of the perimeter.

Once there was only about a dozen guards I clicked my radio three times to signal our own attack. Immediately we all emerged from under the thermal sheets, half of us with single use rocket launchers and fired into the machine gun emplacements and the entrance itself, the remaining guards not even having time to react before being immolated by the explosions.

"Ok move, move, move!" I called as the rocket launchers were discarded and we charged through the opening created by the rockets. All of us were armed with automatic shotguns or SMG's except for Henry, he had that monster revolver and a Gladius, just a regular sword without any dust augmenting at all. All confirming my suspicions that this guy was not just a soldier, but a hunter or at least trained as one.

Charging through the complex, we shot without hesitation or mercy anything that moved, even a rogue cat was obliterated by a 12 gauge slug. We followed Corpston who had the schematics that showed a path to the control station. It was going smoothly until we found ourselves at a central cavern within the system and there were enemies pouring in probably trying to get to where the fighting was worst to reinforce the perimeter. I noticed that these men were all in different uniforms that I immediately noticed that the militaries of all 4 kingdoms were represented in this mix. But I'd ponder that later as gunshots began echoing through the cavern. My small band dove behind cover, immediately returning fire with grenades and shotgun slugs. I dropped two men with two rounds before bullets ripped into the bags of cement mix I'd ducked behind. I saw an explosion kill two of my men, both teenagers from another squadron. Seeing two young lives snuffed out like that enraged me to the point that rational thought was no longer possible.

I leapt over the pallet of cement, automatic shotgun sending rounds forward in rapid succession, each one finding a new mark. I ducked behind a small barrier and lobbed an incendiary dust grenade down one of the corridors, moments later the explosion and flesh melting dust coated everything in the corridor, my efforts being rewarded by the screams of dying enemies.

I was about to surge forward again when I was overtaken by Corpston, the revolver raised firing massive round single handed…. A feat that would easily break the wrists of most men but Corpston took it all in stride. A couple enemies tried to get close and club Henry with their rifles but Henry parried the first with his gladius, booted the second in the balls and then impaled the second enemy's throat with the gladius. By now the first had recovered but as he went to strike he was met by Henry's revolver jammed into his Adams apple and the trigger being pulled, his brain ending up splattered on the roof that was 10m up.

This display of old war horses kicking ass rallied the remaining troopers under my command and they charged, overwhelming the now disorientated enemy in the acrid smoke from the dust grenades.

"Follow me!" Corpston shouted as he slew the last enemy residing in the corridor we needed to turn into, there were stragglers in other corridors but we left them, time was not on our side now that the enemy surely knew why we were here.

Charging through the corridor a pair of Faunus girls popped out of a room mere feet in front of us, Corpston shoulder charged one and I the other back into the room, not even bothering to stop as 1 of my men stopped and lobbed a grenade into the room before closing the door. I grimaced as the explosion heralded the end of those girl's lives, I hated when girls got caught up in this dirty business of war.

But I pushed those thoughts out of my mind the moment when we turned the corner, running into more enemies as we rounded a corner, these ones in Atlesian officer uniforms. I did not hesitate to raise my weapon and fire two slugs into each one, 1 to kill and the other to punish for their treason.

I didn't have time to search them for any intel as we were only a few corridors away from the command centre and hopefully every answer to every question I had going through my mind. We turned another corner, this time seeing a hurriedly put together machine gun nest accompanied by a soldier with a flame thrower.

"Take Cover!" I yelled, diving back behind the corner, tackling two younger soldiers as I went but another soldier was caught in the burst of flame that came from the entrenched position. Even Corpston took cover from the heat.

"Grenade out!" I called as I lobbed an explosive around the corner only for it to be almost instantly incinerated by a burst of flame.

"Fuck…. We're gonna have to rethink this!" Corpston yelled from his cover.

I pointed to two of my men "You two, back track and flank. We'll try to keep these fucktard busy." I ordered as I popped my head around and fired a couple slugs before being forced back behind the corner by the flame thrower, I felt the flames mere inches from my face, my uniform singed.

"Corpston, draw this asshole's fire!" I yelled, the Captain nodded and poked around the corner, letting off a round with his revolver which smacked one of the enemy machine gunners right in the head. Enraged at the loss of one of their comrades the flamethrower hosed the corner where Corpston was hiding, not seeing me roll a dust grenade along the ground in behind the pyro soldier. The grenade went off and pierced the tank he was wearing, it exploded, coating the pyro and the machine gunners in flaming liquid and it ignited, causing a horribly horrific scene as the fire extinguishers fired and smothered the flames so we could advance, moments later one of the two soldiers turned up, covered in blood.

"We ran into trouble Colonel, Okra didn't make it and I'm pretty beat up." The soldier managed to say breathlessly before collapsing, his heart finally giving out from the extensive injuries and physical exertion.

I punched the nearest wall, I heard and felt a finger snap as I vented my anger at losing two more men. "Fuck it all!" I snarled as I continued to vent by punting the skull of the nearest enemy. My remaining men as well as Corpston gave me about 10 seconds to blow off steam before I spat at the corpse and ordered my men to advance. It was a short run to the command centre, which was only lightly guarded, the half a dozen guards, I ducked back into the corner as fire came my way, rolling out I loosed several slugs from my shotgun, but my round went off target as the cave system shook violently.

"Colonel Kruger, The enemy is pushing back and collapsing several entrances we managed to get a foothold in, casualties are high but we'll keep them off your back!" I heard the radio cackle, explosions and screams nearly drowning out the regimental adjutant.

I didn't respond as I scrambled for cover as bullets smashed into the ground. I felt something hot pierce my calf left muscle, it was just a grazing blow but it hurt like a motherfucker nonetheless. My men were pinned down by the fire and I was behind a pallet of construction materials. I saw Corpston giving me hand signals, I was surprised he knew Atlesian signals so well. Nodding I propped myself up against the construction pallet and popped my weapon out, firing blindly at the guards, creating a distraction for Corpston who charged, the gladius in his hands glinting as he covered the distance almost freakishly quick. I followed immediately, slinging my weapon across my back, opting for my bayonet for this encounter if only to compete with the Captain.

I came up to a stunned enemy, a Faunus maybe 25 years old but I wasn't caring about his youth…. He was a threat to the peace and I knocked his rifle out of his hands as he attempted to raise it at me, I immediately followed this up by ramming the pommel of my bayonet into the boy's throat. He doubled over, gasping for breath, but that breath never came as my blade was rammed into his neck right through his spinal cord in between the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae. The fight was over moments later as the last enemy, an officer was impaled on Corpston's gladius.

I didn't take the time to savour the victory, immediately making my way into the command centre and to the nearest computer. "Trooper Raisin, your technical expertise is needed." I ordered, beckoning the Militia's best computer hacker to my side. Not what you'd expect of a stereotypical hacker: Raisin was 6ft11 and built like a brick which made him an excellent soldier, but also had an IQ of 139 and that mind was lightning quick with anything computer related.

"Give me say two minutes and I'll be in Colonel the burly computer expert said as he plugged in several flashdrives as well as nimbly working over the computer while the rest of my men took up positions and formed makeshift machine gun nests to defend against the almost certain counter attack.

I looked over to Corpston who was sitting on a desk reloading his revolver and the speed loaders he kept in a pouch with loose rounds from a box in his pack.

"Never took you for a huntsmen." I commented as I reloaded my shotgun.

"I try to hide that fact, it make people much more likely to underestimate me as just being a man too old for combat and thus play right into my hands, just as you did repeatedly when questioning my ability as a soldier and an officer." Corpston retorted, not looking up.

"Fair point, I expected fancy weapon's or dust mages when it comes to huntsmen, not an oversized revolver and a short sword." I replied as I racked the bolt on a freshly loaded drum mag.

"The revolver is called _Rhinoceros _and the sword is called _Foot Shank_." Corpston commented, having finished loading his revolver took to cleaning the gladius.

"_Foot Shank_? Sounds like there's a story behind that name." I lightly joked, suspecting it was at Corpston's expense.

Corpston looked up and sighed "I got the sword in my teenage years, first thing I did was try to swing it around and act like an expert swordsman. Almost immediately I lost grip and the cold pressed steel blade shanked right through my foot and the sole of my boot and lodged in the ground."

I immediately just burst out laughing. "This is officially the best story I've ever been told…. Serves you bloody right." I just laughed and laughed and laughed, much to Corpston's disdain.

I only stopped when Raisin tapped me on the shoulder "I'm in Colonel" was all he said and I speed walked over to the console, slinging my shotgun across my chest for easy access when shit hit the fan.

Turning to my men "All of you, keep guard…. We're bound to have trouble coming our way." I ordered, to get all of my men out of the room before I went to work, I didn't need men snooping over my shoulder. I began looking for and downloading any files relating to Atlas, the AA launchers and the Queen, I didn't take the time to read anything as I only had a few minutes before the enemy returned.

I had filled 1 mobile hard drive and beginning the second when I heard my men calling out for someone to halt. I just continued working, moments later a warning shot went out, and almost immediately I heard grenades being tossed and even more rounds going out. _'No! I was meant to have more time!'_ I thought angrily as I sped up what I was doing, no longer being selective but just downloading everything I could get my hands on.

I heard numerous enemies charging the makeshift barricades, like lambs to the slaughter…. It just felt a little off to me, but I couldn't figure out why. My answer came moments later as my men were reloading after the human wave had been cut down brutally.

"HUNTERS!" One of my men called, my blood ran cold…. It had been a ploy, make us waste our ammo on a suicide charge and the real enemy appears as we reload.

"Corpston… HOLD THEM OFF!" I barked, knowing Henry was already making his way out there. I worked as fast as I could, but I knew I was nearly out of time. I stopped downloading new files and waited for the ones currently downloading to finish, sweat beading my brow as I heard more grenades being lobbed and men frantically trying to reload. I heard Corpston's sword clash with something outside.

"They're right on top of us! Colon-AHH" I heard Raisin plea for help before something ended his life. One by one I heard my men screaming as they fell, I saw the downloading was finished, I immediately ripped the drives out of the computer and put them in one of the pouches in my webbing.

I charged out the door, coming face to face with a grizzly scene: Just in time to see my last soldier booted in the face by one of the hunters that had aligned themselves with _The Queen_. This one was a male with silver-grey hair and grey-black clothing, I saw my soldiers, all their faces looked like they'd been kicked in, except they had also been shot I could see his boots were weaponized.

"You little bastard." I growled as I fired a round into his back… sending the enemy flying.

"Oh you cheap shot! I like your style." Came the raspy reply from the hunter said as he cartwheeled to avoid my other shots at him.

Looking over I could see Corpston locked in a fight with a green haired girl who looked to have a pair of chain scythes. I turned back to face my own attacker with just enough time to roll out of the way of a downward kick at me, I heard what sounded like a shotgun similar to mine discharge from his boot. Before he could recover I swung the stock of my weapon into his skull, sending him reeling.

"You're good for an old man." The much younger hunter commented as he took a boxing like stance.

I didn't comment, just pumped rounds towards him, all of which he dodged without effort before coming back into kick at me again, I sidestepped the punt kick and smashed my weapon's stock into the back of my adversary's head.

"You really think you're the first wannabee upstart of a hunter I've fought? I might be old but I can read you like an open book boy." I taunted as I saw my opponent getting even more agitated. I didn't know how much I could keep this up, I was tired, my left calf muscle was burning hot and my joints were seizing up with arthritis but I didn't let any of that show on my face.

My adversary cocked his head to the side "Pretty confident for a grandpa" He said as he tried to kick at me again which I dodged and smashed my weapon's stock into the knee cap of his extended leg causing my opponent to wince visibly.

"You got some fancy footwork, but you may as well be armless with how little you put them to use." I once again taunted, circling him so he had his back to the command room.

I felt myself come back to back with Corpston whose weapon once more clanged against the green haired girl's.

"Well this is not what I expected." I commented to Corpston as our opponents backed away slightly.

"Well what do you think Emerald, looks like we got these rats caught." I heard the male opponent comment, his tone confident and taunting.

"Shut it Mercury, you can joke when these guys are dead." The girl, seemingly called her hair colour growled angrily.

I had my shotgun shouldered, aiming at Mercury. "Corpston, got any bright ideas?" I said, taking a shot at Mercury, who's Aura stopped the round doing any penetration damage but the concussive effects knocked the boy down again.

"I'm thinking" Corpston replied as he parried a strike from Emerald before head-butting her, sending her reeling.

"Put the weapons down and maybe we'll let you live." Emerald spoke, her tone dark.

"Not happening." I snarled, before I ducked under a kick from Mercury, only for it to hit Corpston in the back. His Aura took most of the blow but he stumbled, Emerald took the initiative and used one of her chain scythes to ensnare Corpston's gladius and rip it from his hands. I raised my shotgun and fired a slug, hitting Emerald in the hand, causing her to drop the weapon that had ensnared _Foot Shank_.

I fired another slug which struck Emerald, making her step back from the concussive force of a point blank strike, I advanced and kicked the weapon away as Corpston had retrieved his gladius.

I immediately took cover behind part of the barricade my men had erected, putting something between myself and Emerald as I fired my shotgun at her, sending her for cover, not even a hunter could take too many solid 12 gauge slugs without getting injured.

"Colonel Kruger, we've breached the perimeter. Infiltrating to the command centre now, just hold on a few minutes more." I heard the call from the regimental adjutant as I ducked back behind cover.

I popped out to see Corpston fighting both Emerald and Mercury at once. "Get out of here Colonel… I can handle these two!" Corpston ordered as he sliced at Mercury only for Emerald to cleave at his back with her chain scythe before rolling to retrieve her second weapon.

Corpston grunted and smacked Mercury in the face with his gladius' pommel before turning to Emerald and shooting at her with his revolver. Emerald had read this move and had rolled out of the way and used her chain scythe to wrench at Corpston's leg, bringing him to the ground. Emerald sprung at Corpston to try and cleave at his face but was instead met with my elbow to her ribs as I'd lunged from cover to help Corpston, I may not have liked the man but he was my soldier and I'd without hesitation throw myself into danger for those I lead.

Mercury tried lashing out with a few punches, having returned to the fight after repeated facial injuries. I easily parried his punches, His footwork might be without compare but his punches were feeble as a pre-pubescent child. I retaliated by swinging my shotgun like a club into Mercury's face with such force that the stock which made contact shattered, leaving Mercury bloody and dazed. I threw away the now useless shotgun and drew my pistol and bayonet. I turned to see Emerald essentially run up the wall and kick off the ceiling, spinning her body and her chain scythes in mid-air, hitting both myself and Corpston.

I flew back from the force with which I'd been hit, knocking my head against the wall, which would have probably killed me had it not been for my helmet, but I was still concussed and severely disorientated. I felt pain all over, looking dazedly around I saw Corpston still fighting, desperately against his two opponents but being overwhelmed, I saw Mercury get in behind Corpston and land a punishing kick to his back, the round from his weaponised boots going right through him, splattering blood all over the corridor. I tried to raise my right hand to fire my pistol at Mercury but my arm wouldn't move…. I found out way, looking to my right I saw that my right arm from half way between the shoulder and elbow downwards was laying severed several metres away.

I began to drag myself towards my now severed arm to grab my pistol, only to be booted in the ribs by Emerald, I saw in the background that Corpston was on his knees still swinging wildly at Mercury, not giving up without a fight.

I was punted again and I landed on my back as Emerald went through the pouches on my webbing, finding the flash drives.

"Oh look, someone thinks they can steal and get away with it." Emerald commented in a snarky tone.

"Says the master thief herself." I heard Mercury comment as he dodged another swing from a dying Corpston before kicking the gladius out of Corpston's hand and delivering a kick right to Corpston's heart, the shotgun round tearing through the Captain's chest and killing him instantly. The Captain fell to the ground, oddly smiling as he fell.

"Shut up Mercury." Emerald snarled as she twirled her pistol in her hands before turning to me. "Sorry old man, you put up a good fight especially for a grunt…. But you couldn't've hoped to beat us." Emerald said as she aimed her weapon at my chest...

"You might kill me and win this day….. But those I've led today and in the past will come back to haunt you." I said cockily as Emerald squeezed the trigger, ending the life of Lieutenant Colonel Ty Kruger, aged 60.

**Third Person PoV.**

It had taken far too long for the regiment to gain control of the base but eventually the first soldiers from Kruger's squadron arrived at the command centre, to find their commanding officer and 2iC both dead among several comrades and many more enemy dead. The mission had been deemed a partial failure despite capturing the base and seemingly ending the threats of attacks on airships. Whoever had overrun Ty, Corpston and their men had wiped surveillance cameras, the computer mainframe as well as destroying it and had taken anything of intelligence value from Ty and Corpston's bodies before fleeing in a modified bullhead. And there were no prisoners as any cornered enemies had taken their own lives rather than be prisoners. The incident would be covered up and it all blamed on a group of rogue soldiers masquerading as Atlesians so as not to upset or accuse Atlas and business would go as usual, very few people aware of the danger coming their way lurking in the shadows and most of those that were aware would pretend the problem didn't exist.

**A/N:** Well this is 2nd chapter in this entire story not to feature a part about Simon, I hope you don't mind that at all, my original draft for this had Ty Kruger surviving but I thought that unworkable as he would alert Simon to Emerald and Mercury and Simon would probably recognise them as soon as they turned up to Beacon…. So I made the unfortunate decision to end the old man's life, better he go out fighting like the soldier and leader of men he is than wasting away in retirement.

As Always I hope you enjoy my writing, so please leave a review if you got a comment you'd like to make. –CC Signing off.


	43. It Never Gets Easier

**A/N:** Hi all, CC back again from a small break I took after publishing the last chapter… It was kinda upsetting to have to kill Kruger, a character I'd developed myself from scratch and to have seen your reactions in the reviews and PMs I'd received afterwards to see that you guys and girls as well had grown fond of him, I hope I did him justice in the way he went out.

I had a question asked about the OC's people were submitting to me for the tournament: I'll be using as many as I can in the events leading up to, during and after the Vytal tournament.

In case someone asks this question: about the seasons, from what I can see, Vale is In Remnant's southern hemisphere and so the seasons are in reverse. I.e. summer takes place at the beginning 2 and final 1 month of the year and winter takes place in the middle like it is in Australia.

A little side note, the _Tyranniss _Grimm was actually suggested to me by **t0xicd0g** so credit to him for that but I forgot to mention that in the last chapter. –CC Signing on.

**Chapter 42: It never gets easier. Thursday Week 8, Simon's PoV:**

It had been an extremely quiet week, Id ended up not leaving Beacon over the weekend, choosing to instead stay back and catch up on the pile of homework I'd missed out on being unconscious and in the infirmary while the rest of my team disappeared into Vale, even Weiss and Velvet had gone into the city leaving me alone for the first time in a long time which I put to good use by spending copious amounts of time on the phone to the snipers, catching up with the still bedridden but awake Kale and the freshly sober Shauno when I wasn't writing out essays. As much as I'd enjoyed the quiet and the peace from being infuriated by Teal and Nyanza I'd been glad when my team got back on Sunday night apparently having stayed in Vale all weekend instead of returning each night. The first four days of the school week had passed similarly uneventfully, everyone had been too busy gearing up for a fieldtrip into the forever fall in a week's time to be mucking about.

I'd been quite persistent on running team training drills and trust exercises each day, of course nothing too strenuous as I was certain that if I pushed myself too hard that Peach, the Head Hunter (Not the professor at Beacon, who was mostly harmless) would appear out of nowhere with a scalpel to remove my manhood… It was a legitimate fear I now had, one of a growing number that I had.

Classes for the day had just finished and I was exiting a class with Professor Peach I walked down the halls of Beacon. Catching sight of Cardin, CRDL and Jaune (who was carrying a massive pile of books and several bags) walking in front of me, the CRDL leader shoved a Faunus boy out of his way, knocking the boy over and sending his stuff all over the hall. _'Oh Cardin….. You're going to regret that one.' _I thought evilly to myself as I stormed up behind Cardin and slammed him face first into the wall, turning him around and jamming my forearm into his throat to choke him.

"Didn't I warn you about hurting the Faunus students Cardin?" I snarled in a low, vicious tone.

Cardin looked dazed but as he caught sight of who had assaulted him the colour from his face drained and he looked pale as an Atlesian ghost. "Si-" was all he could manage before I pushed my arm harder into his throat, cutting off his ability to speak.

"Shut up, another word and I make good on my threat." I snarled lowly as Cardin only nodded in response.

"Good, now when I let go, you're going to walk over to that boy you pushed. Then you're going to offer him a hand up and apologise to him. And then you're going to be a good human and pick all his books and stuff up and carry them to wherever he wants them taken to, I'll be watching so you do anything untoward then I'll be ready to take two fingers off you." I whispered, ignoring the semi-large crowd that had gathered. Cardin nodded, his face beginning to go blue.

I stepped back, letting him fall face first onto the ground gagging for breath. Deciding he wasn't moving fast enough I got right up in his face much like Sanderson used to when myself or the other members of Rum Squad acted up. "Snap to you scum! I've seen slugs move faster than you." I barked at the now terrified Cardin, his team not game to try and jump me, I may have mellowed out a lot lately but I still put fear into Team CRDL at least if no one else. Cardin scrambled up off the ground and over to the boy he'd shoved over who'd already gotten up and was watching the display with a large amount of amusement simply rejected Cardin's apology and dumped his textbooks in the bully-turned-servant's hands and walked off, beckoning Cardin to follow.

I heard Jaune sniggering as he followed behind Russell. Dove turned to Jaune looking quite angry "Don't worry Jauney-boy, we're doing some boxing training later and I think you merit an invitation." Came the threat of a certain beating once Cardin's humiliation was complete.

"Oh Man." Jaune sighed sadly, looking to me, pleading for me to save him to.

I kinda felt guilty for causing Jaune to get his ass kicked like he was about to but I decided now was a time for some fun. So walking up to Jaune I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him an encouraging look

"Just cop it on the chin and then smile straight back at whichever one hit you, it shows you won't back away from insurmountable odds even if it means pain…. Women, _especially _Weiss, love a man that can get beaten and then get right back up smiling. It show's you're capable of protecting yourself and them if need be." I said encouragingly even though my advice was total bullshit, Jaune just nodded, now with a very determined look about him turned to follow CRDL, giving me a thumbs up as he went, I returned the thumbs up, trying so hard to not just start laughing that Jaune had believed me.

As soon as the Faunus, Jaune and CRDL were gone I just collapsed against the nearest wall, laughing my guts out at the thought that Jaune now thinks that getting the crap kicked out of him will help him get with _Snow Angel_ as he called Weiss_. 'Oh my…. How fucking dumb can a guy be!'_ I thought as my eyes began tearing up from how much I was laughing.

"You know Weiss will probably kill you if she finds out you're encouraging him." I heard a distinct voice, looking up I saw an amused looking Yang with a not-so-impressed Blake standing in front of me.

"She can try…. But I can get away with these things, because well, it's me and she'd miss me if I died." I replied, my laughter suddenly gone with the colour from my face at seeing Blake.

"Ice queen missing someone? Hey Blake, reckon we should kill Simon to test this theory?" Yang said as just a joke, but my face just drained of all colour as Blake looked like she was genuinely thinking of agreeing with her partner. But I allowed my heart to start beating again when her reply did come.

"Maybe next time Yang, I think he deserves a respite from pain after the way he handled that bully, Cardin, even if he did feed Jaune to the wolves for the sake of a joke." Blake replied, trying her best to scold both Yang and I for having fun out of Jaune's misfortune.

"You're no fun Blakey, I'm sure Jaune will be fine…. If he isn't then you can kiss him better." Yang teased, much to the annoyance of the incognito Faunus.

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up in a moment." Blake said flatly, dismissing her partner not giving the blonde brawler a chance to make any more puns or jokes. Yang just shrugged, looking kinda annoyed now but nonetheless she walked off towards the dorms.

I was now on guard, Blake had mostly avoided me since our incident in the sparing arena where I'd ended up hospitalising her. I stood up and dusted myself off "Yes Blake?" I asked coolly, wandering what she had to talk to me about.

"I saw what you did…. I didn't know you were that protective of the Faunus? I'm sure that display means a lot to all Faunus to see not all humans are like Cardin." Blake asked curiously, her facial expression one of curiosity and slight confusion.

The look on Blake's face was priceless, She thought she was just conveying the appreciation of the Faunus while hiding the fact she was a Faunus and she thought I was just as clueless as to what she was as everyone else, but I knew better and I was honestly pretty damned surprised that Blake was actually commenting on the scene that had unfolded.

"But I'm also sure that most Faunus would also prefer violence to be avoided, they've suffered enough from violence that they themselves caused…. They don't need to suffer the consequences of violence done on their behalf. Violence, even in response to violence only breeds more violence." Blake rebuked almost instantly, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Sometimes the only answer is violence, especially in response to violence, besides I still got serious beef with Cardin." I responded, ignoring the rebuke from the incognito Faunus.

Blake just rolled her eyes before walking off without another word, deciding my stubbornness wasn't worth arguing with. I studied her as she walked away, I could see or feel no vicious or malicious intent from the orphan girl towards me and that just confused the hell out of me. _'If she doesn't know who I' am and what I've done, then how did she come to somehow end up at the same school at the same time as me….. This can't just be a coincide-'_ and then a theory popped into my head _'Ozpin!'_ I didn't know what the Headmaster was playing at with this or even if Ozpin knew about the history that tied myself to Blake, the history which was my deepest, darkest secret kept even from my closest friend and confidant, Weiss Schnee.

Pushing those thoughts of my past out of my head I looked to the now distant form of Blake, slight pity replacing the suspicion I'd previously held. _'Soon'_ I mentally commented, promising myself to come clean within the next few weeks, I just had to work out how…. Maybe the same way I had with Weiss, leaving my journal in her bed, I immediately quashed that option, this time I wasn't taking the coward's way out, this time I was going to confront it myself face-to-face. I felt a tap on my shoulder, snapping out of my trance and straight into combat mode I spun on my heels, ready to land a chop to the person's neck…. Only to catch myself as I saw Weiss behind me.

"You realise you're standing in the middle of the hallway with the most absentminded expression I've ever seen…. And I live with that dolt Ruby!" Weiss chided, pinching her nose as I went flush and looked absolutely sheepish.

"Sorry, just zoned out thinking about something." I replied, hoping Weiss would drop the subject.

Weiss looked at me, subtle concern showing on her face "Well whatever it is, I'll meet you on the roof tonight to discuss it, I'm ahead on all my assignments and homework so I got time if you want to get whatever it is off your chest."

I smiled at my friend "What, not able to talk here? Too afraid your icy reputation would suffer, _Snowflake_?" I joked teasingly.

Weiss raised an eyebrow and scowled at me "Just because I choose not to put socialising or secret, life-threatening missions over the importance of my studies does not mean I have an icy reputation." Weiss shot back, simultaneously rejecting my argument and rebuking me over my clandestine activities.

"Hey!" Was all I could manage before I leaned in towards Weiss. "We'll talk about this tonight, now I gotta go make sure that my team hasn't trashed anything and you need to attend to your dolt." I said, pointing down the hall towards the blur of red coming our way.

I stepped back to avoid the incoming Ruby, watching as the blur all but knocked over Weiss and just kept going.

Weiss looked crestfallen "Someone's given her sugar by the looks of it. This is going to be such a long afternoon, I'll talk to you later Simon….. If Ruby doesn't drive me around the twist first." The heiress said forlornly as she followed the trail of rose petals left by the red reaper.

"What a bloody weird team" I muttered under my breath as I headed towards the SNST dorm to meet my own insane comrades and hopefully a few moments of peace to go over my thoughts of the day's events.

**That Night, SNST dorms. Simon's PoV:**

I'd taken SNST for a light run in the afternoon when it had cooled slightly, it was the beginning of Autumn so the weather was beginning to cool making it much more enjoyable for me, less so for my team who'd all sprinted back to the dorm to warm up when we'd finished just after SuNSeT. I opened up the dorm door having jogged and warmed down even after my team had bailed on me to find Teal studying what looked like our readings from Professor Port while Sienna and Nyanza were sitting on Sienna's bed playing cards.

"You guys suck…. When I get the chance I'm taking you all up to Atlas and we're going to go running through the highlands." I said sarcastically after slamming the dorm door shut.

"So long as we can bring Yang, I'm sure we will be fine. Just gotta piss her off and make her go nuclear, she'd melt the snow for miles while she calmed down." Nyanza laughed as he dealt a hand of what looked like poker.

"You should sit down and join us Simon, just teaching Sienna how to play _Hold 'em_." Nyanza added on as an afterthought.

I smirked, having plenty of good memories up in Atlas of card nights between missions with _Rum Squad, Bourbon Squad_ and even _Whiskey Squad_ before the last group became a bunch of backstabbing asses. "Maybe another time guys, we'll get some of your friends over Nyanza and I'll clean them all out of ever Lien they have." I joked, remembering the bitching from Lachlan and Sanderson when I won a big pile of their Lien one night, gambling had been one of the main ways we relaxed, the only way during the harsh winter nights.

"We'll see Simmo, not sure I trust you to play fairly…. Bet those Mercs you ran with taught you how to count cards and shit." Nyanza shot back as he laid down three cards for the flop and then threw some chips in, waiting to gauge Sienna's reaction.

"For the record….. I taught them how to cheat." I joked before flopping back onto my bed and plugging in some earphones to listen to Grimm Reckoning, a band that the snipers had recommended me listen to.

I must have dozed off because one moment I was listening to music and the next my eyes shot open as I felt my scroll vibrate on my chest, looking bleary eyed at the screen I saw the name _Ty_ come up, I shot straight up and placing on shoes and a jacket quickly I stormed out the door, not saying a word to my now perplexed team. I walked quickly, forcefully and deliberately down the halls towards the roof, not even noticing as I stormed past Weiss as she exited her team's dorm. I nearly sprinted up the stairs and prepared to call Kruger back, but unusually I found that a voice message had been left. _'Odd, Ty never leaves messages on scrolls when I miss his calls.'_ I thought uneasily as I opened the message:

"_Hello Simon, my name is Opal Kruger. I am-was Ty's wife of many years, including the years he was away fighting with the fist alongside you." _

I paused the message and was instantly on guard and nervous when she said _was_ as well as by the mournful, tearful tone she spoke in. preparing myself for the worst I pressed play again

"_I honestly don't know how to say it given I don't even know how to comprehend or believe it myself…Ty was killed in action this week while on operations in Vacuo's deep desert under circumstances that are classified on some stupid mission that he'd become fixated with and sacrificed his peaceful retirement for, it is what he always did."_

I nearly cracked my scroll with the force that I hit the stop button, my world was coming tumbling down once more. A man I'd have followed down into the deepest pits of hell for without question or hesitation, a man whom I admired and had based a lot of myself upon, a man who'd partially filled the void my parents had left was now gone…. I saw there was still more to the message and pressed play, despite not really wanting to hear what came next.

"_I know you looked up to him as not just your commanding officer but as a father figure and I know he considered you family as he did every soldier he ever commanded. I thought you deserved to hear this sooner rather than months down the track. I don't know why he needed to put a uniform back on, you probably know better than I what he was up to out here as he always kept me in the dark but if you do know anything then please finish what my Ty started and make sure his death wasn't in vain and those who took my husband, my life and joy away from me do not get away with it. Yours sincerely, Opal Kruger."_

The message ended, I could only imagine what that woman was going through…. She and Ty had been married for longer than I'd been alive at least. My mind swam with too many overwhelming emotions, namely disgust at myself: I'd been sitting idle in Beacon, playing pretend huntsman while the Snipers, Gregory and Ty had all been out there fighting the forces that would see Remnant crumble. In a fit of rage and self-loathing I went to toss my scroll over the ledge of the building only for my arm to be snared in an immobilizing glyph.

"How much of that did you hear _Snowflake_?" I asked, my voice cracking as grief washed over me.

"All of it, you never mentioned names of your squad mates in your journal… I'm guessing Ty was a close friend?" Weiss said, stepping out of the shadows and moving next to me as she released my arm from the glyph.

"Ty was my captain….. He was working out in Vacuo on something and he got himself fucking killed. He was more than my captain, more than my friend… he filled the void left by my parent's deaths and now that hole has been gouged right back open!" I whimpered quietly, tears starting to fall as I sat down to steady myself. "He should never have been there… he never could admit that the battlefield is no place for people of his age!" I cried softly, aware that voices carry in the cool night air.

Weiss stood behind me, giving me a moment of space to vent my emotions before sitting next to me, pulling my head into her shoulder, letting me sob knowing I had a friend who wouldn't judge me for letting my emotional armour crack to reveal the still broken child underneath the façade of a leader, a soldier.

"You'd think I'd be used to loss by now…. Death and loss of comrades has been a part of my life for years now, I've lost almost everyone I've ever known before I came into your service, only about half a dozen people from that life are still alive, it never gets any easier to hear that another survivor of the _Fist_ that I knew is gone. Despite what we've done those who did get out deserve a second chance like I got and it hurts deeply when they don't get it" I whispered, my breath hitching as I tried to rein in the tears and get myself back under control.

I could tell Weiss was thinking, she obviously wasn't too used to having to comfort a grieving friend, she had no idea what to say. Instead she simply sat there, rubbing my shoulder as I eventually managed to bring myself back under control.

"Thanks Weiss, thi-this means a lot to have you here." I said as I wiped my eyes on my sleeve.

"It's ok Simon, I've always got your back. You were there for me during my struggle with my father, helping me get the opportunity to get to Beacon. I know I was going to grill you over how you got hurt, but I think I'll give you time to grieve for your captain, just promise me not to do anything stupid to honour or avenge him? I don't want to see you get hurt again…. I've seen you hospitalised enough already." Weiss responded caringly, a serious rebuke given in a playful tone at the end that managed to make me smile ever so weakly.

"For an _Ice-Queen_, you have got quite a warm heart." I joked as I turned to my friend who rolled her eyes at me.

"Thanks Simon, anyway I'm going to let you have some time to yourself, I imagine you got calls to make… but if you feel like it's overwhelming you, just come and knock on RWBY's door….. I'm normally there outside of class.

"What, don't you have a scroll for me to shoot a text?" I replied, confused why I'd need to go to their dorm.

"I do but I keep it switched off, allows me to more easily ignore calls from father." Weiss replied somewhat guiltily.

I nodded and took my scroll out, twirling it in my hands "Thanks for being here Weiss, but mind giving me a little privacy…. I got a call or two to make. I'll see you tomorrow _Snowflake_." I farewelled Weiss with a hug as she stood and left to return to her dorm.

I sat there staring at my scroll for a few moments, entirely unsure of even how to break the news to the snipers, I didn't know how they'd react…. Given their habit of just covering real emotions with jokes and perverted comments when confronted with situations they can't handle. I sighed and punched up their frequency and waited for them to pick up.

"Hello, Simon what's up?" I heard a tired Shauno answer, obviously having been woken up by my call.

"Hey Shauno, mind putting me on speaker? I got big news and I think Kale needs to hear it." I asked politely, trying my hardest to hide the sorrow in my voice.

"Ummm ok, just let me wake him up dude, give me a moment." Shaun answered, on edge having detected something odd in my tone.

I waited for a minute or two until Shauno came back to the scroll.

"Ok mate, Kale's up and listening. What's this big news?" Shaun asked puzzled about why I was calling.

"I bet he finally got laid." I heard Kale laughing in the background, his voice slurred from drugs that the doctors gave him.

"Ha! Nice one Kale…. Who was she Simon?" Shauno asked, still puzzled but now with humour in his tone.

I knew they were doing this to steady themselves for whatever I was about to hit them with, so I decided to play along to help soften the blow. "Heh, funny you two…. No I haven't gotten laid, but I do have a girlfriend now." I answered, a humour in my voice that I didn't think I could exhibit at a time like this but I was trying to steel my friends for the news.

"Wait, what?! You aren't just shitting with us Simon?" I heard Kale in the background, almost choking.

"Yeah, I do guys... but that isn't why I called, I got news from Vacuo, from Kruger." I replied, my tone going dead serious.

"Ty? What's he need? If he needs help over in Vacuo we'll book the next available airship to follow him to hell and back." Kale replied almost instantly, if you could inspire this type of loyalty in people like the snipers, then you've certainly could get anyone to follow you.

"He was on a mission, I don't know much, and he kept most of it secret, though I think that Sanderson might know more. But the message was actually from his wife, Opal. Ty was killed in Action earlier this week, killed on a raid in Vacuo's deep desert, the details are classified so Opal had very little information for me." I broke the news in a mechanical monotone, trying to not let myself break again. I heard dead silence on the other end.

"Simon you can't be serious? We've seen Ty face down mechs, hunters, Faunus and Grimm with not but a rifle and blade. That badass is invincible!" Shauno whimpered, his tone one of utter disbelief, Kale was still silent.

"I'm sorry Shaun, but it's true: Someone finally brought down the God of War himself, but at least he died in battle, doing what he'd sworn his life to do… I don't think dying of old age was ever something he had an intention of doing, it would have been an undignified end to such a dignified officer." I explained to the distraught sniper.

"Simon's right, we all knew Ty had an obsession with the battlefield and protecting his troopers…. I put my money on he sacrificed himself to give younger soldiers a chance to escape, I don't know how many times he lectured us on how 30 should be the minimum age for enlistment." I finally heard Kale speak up, his tone subdued and sombre.

"I personally think you're right Kale…. Next time I head to Vale unsupervised I'll grab a bottle of that Atlesian scotch he always liked and we'll drink a toast to a great man. Now I gotta go, gotta make sure my team has not destroyed our room and try to get some rest to collect my thoughts." I answered the older sniper.

"Ok you take care Simon, and I damn well mean it! I think our ever shrinking group of _Rum Runners_ has had enough losses, there's only four of us left." Shauno responded commandingly.

"Also, try to get in contact with Sanderson when possible, make sure he's ok. He's known Kruger for nearly as many years as you've been alive, this news is going to hit him hard." Kale added on before their line clicked off, the three of us each left to our thoughts and memories of our captain.

I pocketed my scroll before simply staring out into the night sky, enjoying the cooling breeze _'It's spring time in Atlas, perfect time for you to finally go home and be at peace Ty'_

**A/N: **Sorry this chapter took so long, I've had it done for a while now…. Just been travelling and have not had an internet connection for my laptop in a while, the next chapter is well underway and will be uploaded hopefully within the next week. Once more, thanks for being patient with my slow uploads and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. –CC Signing off.


	44. The Sniper's Lesson

**A/N: **CC here with the next chapter of _From Hunted to Hunter_, this update represents the fulfilment of a long desired goal for me: To write a 10,000 chapter and I'm quite pleased with myself for actually managing to do it. My holidays are up and time to hit the books again, but I'll continue updating all I can… I know my update speed has slowed considerably since I began writing this story over 11 months ago but that is mainly because chapters are longer and in much more depth than my early chapters.

Having seen the Winter Schnee reveal at RTX which confirms that Winter is indeed older than Weiss (despite Weiss being _Heiress_ which duped myself and probably a lot of other fanfic writers into thinking that Weiss was older). I've already done up my own version of Winter with regards to personality and interactions with others, which will probably differ from the canon version of her quite a bit. Just thought I'd clear that up before I went further into the story. –CC Signing on.

**Chapter 43: The Sniper's Lesson. Atlas, Friday Week 8. Sanderson's PoV:**

I felt the crisp air of the Atlesian sting against my face as I strode through the _Imperial War Cemetery_. It felt odd being here and in my full dress uniform, something I had not worn in several years but I was glad that it still fit perfectly and was in good condition. Looking to my left I saw my companion for today: Major Antonio Silver (ret.), who also was in something that the Vacuo militia considered a uniform. It would have been quite a sight for anyone who saw the crisp and neat blue-white-grey of my elaborate uniform contrasting on the simple tan of Silver's Great Coat.

We reached our destination, a small altar to honour those who fell far from Atlas' shores. Silver had been informed of what had become of our former commander mere hours after Ty had fallen in battle, even before his widow had found out. But today was the first day either of us could be pulled away from our other lives: that of student and academic to come and say farewell in a fashion befitting of a soldier. In my hand I held a small wooden box which contained a set of nearly 20 medal ribbons including 4 for bravery and valour under fire all of which had clasps for multiple awards: all belonging to Ty, chronicling 35 years of loyal and highly decorated service to Atlas. I saw that Silver was fiddling with a data stick in his hands, the data stick whose contents would explain why we were farewelling _The Old Man_ as almost everyone he led called him.

"This certainly is much different to how we farewell fallen comrades in Vacuo…. Normally a lot more alcohol involved, I think Ty would have liked that." Silver uttered, a slight shiver in his voice. Even though it was the beginning of spring this is probably the coldest place this man has ever been.

"Well I've known Ty since I was about 16 when I first joined a combat unit… I have to agree with you there, he never did much like the solemness of military funerals or funeral rites. But later, I got a bottle of his favourite drink in my car." I responded, a small smirk on my face at all the times I saw Ty rant about having to spend time on the parade grounds instead of in the field, he was a stickler for military tradition at times, mostly when those traditions involved alcohol.

"16? Didn't know Atlas recruited that young." Silver questioned in shock that Atlas would put kids into uniform.

"Nah, minimum age is 18: I forged my documentation and enlisted to escape my step-father. Ty found out and kept my secret, but it only added to his attitude of only old men should fight wars. I swore my loyalty to him and I've followed my Captain ever since…. At least until we left our last posting so I could attend university." I responded, explaining why I was so loyal to Ty.

"Well that certainly does explain a lot about the Colonel. So Sergeant, what do we do now?" Silver asked, wondering about why we were out at dawn in a military cemetery.

I nodded and placed the wooden box onto a ash filled bowl atop the altar and grabbed a fire torch off one of the light posts illuminating the altar "It is tradition to burn the ribbons of a fallen soldier, the ashes are left on the altar to be spread by the Atlesian winds, thus returning the soldier and his deeds to the kingdom which they served with honour." I explained as I lit the box aflame before replacing the torch and saluting the flames, Silver did the same.

We both maintained a respectful silence for a few minutes until the flames died down and not but ash remained, waiting for a wind to pick it up and carry Ty to the far corners of the kingdom.

Turning to Silver I sighed "Ok what did Ty tell you about this data stick? Whatever is on it must have been important to make him go all the way to Brimstone." I asked, wanting to know what was so damned important that Ty died for it.

"Well of it is all extremely heavily encrypted, Ty sent me here because you apparently have a few friends that could help and then we were to report our findings back to him to decide the next step." Silver explained as he handed me the stick.

Looking it over I almost wanted to crush it out of anger at losing Ty over this. "Well without Ty we've gotta make those decisions ourselves when we decode this. I got some friends at university who worked in codebreaking for the Atlesian military, I'll see if one of them would assist. But it might be a risk, if what you said about Atlesian soldiers being involved in this is true then there might be others back here that are in league with the traitors you found in Vacuo." I responded, now almost scared to find something on this stick that would implicate my beloved Army in something sinister and treasonous.

"Did Ty have anyone else he could have trusted with such information? It's good if we ensure others we trust have access to such information, give a new perspective on where to proceed with whatever information we gather." Silver asked, always thinking ahead like a good officer.

"I can think of only 1 man that Ty would trust with this, he's in Vale as far as I remember, I'll make efforts to contact him and bring him in on this." I answered, knowing that Simon would leap at the chance to get back at those who had killed Ty.

"Good, another of your former squad mates from the Atlas Military or from after you left?" Silver asked as he rubbed his hands together to get blood flowing to his numb fingers.

"I think that's a question best left unanswered." I replied gruffly as I pocketed the data stick.

"Point taken Sergeant. Shall we go now? I believe you mentioned a bottle of alcohol waiting for us? A toast for Ty is in order, we're going to give him a wake, Vacuo style." Silver inquired, trying to cheer me up.

"I think that can be arranged Major, I got no classes today so I can get drunk as I please…. Trust me I can still outdrink most teenagers and I'm in my 30's now." I replied, a wry grin on my face…. We may have lost Ty and I'll always mourn for him but I'm not going to shut down, Ty would smite me from Valhalla in a moment if he caught me getting depressed over his death.

Together we both gave one last salute to the altar and then turned on our heels, today we drink ourselves stupid just like those bloody idiots Kale and Shauno would in this situation, and tomorrow we find who's taking #1 spot on my shit-list just like Simon or Lachlan.

**Beacon, Friday Morning. Simon's PoV:**

I woke up in an extremely over-emotional state, the shock of Opal's message had finally worn off and the despair had crept in. I noted damp patches on my pillows. _'Great, crying in my sleep… I just hope Nyanza doesn't mention it at all.'_ I thought as I grabbed my uniform and a towel to make my way into the dorm's bathroom door, swinging it open I came to face to face with a bare-breasted Sienna.

With lightning fast reflexes I stepped back and slammed the door shut. "For fuck sakes Sienna, there's a lock on the door, please use it. I get that in dorm settings such as this, such incidents can be common in the first few weeks but surely by two months in you'd have a habit of locking it."

"Well you could've knocked Simon, I was just in a rush to get ready and be gone by the time you woke up." I heard a thoroughly embarrassed Sienna reply as I heard the lock click.

"Fair point, I guess my head just isn't on straight today. Where's the other two?" I asked, quickly changing subject to avoid any more embarrassment on either our parts.

"Teal's gone training as she usually does of a morning before class and Ny has gone off to see some of his buddies from signal for an early breakfast." Sienna answered from the other side of the door.

Looking at the time I saw it was barely even 7am. "Ok, what's going on? You and Nyanza are barely even awake by this time normally, let alone gone or nearly gone…. What's going on?" I enquired curiously.

"Well you woke all of us up last night…. You were yelling and crying in your sleep, we decided to give you a bit of time alone this morning then sit you down and talk about it at breakfast." Sienna answered, sounding now worried.

"Oh, I was that bad…. Sorry for waking you guys." I replied sheepishly, hoping I didn't blurt anything to incriminating out.

"At first we thought it was for your parents… but then you began mentioning a man named Kruger." Sienna prodded, hoping for an answer.

I sighed and leaned against the door. "He was my old merc commander, he retired a few months before everything went to shit and I ended up leaving… he was killed this week in Vacuo, I got the news last night from his widow…. He was the closest thing to a parent I had left, even though he was old enough to be my grandpa, 60 years old and could outfight, outrun, outdrink any 20 year old. Guess his luck just finally ran out…. Happens to us all at one point or another doesn't matter if you're a ground pounding infantry soldier or a hunter." I replied cynically.

Silence followed for a minute or two until the bathroom door opened and out came Sienna, brushing her hair. "You really know how to encourage people to become soldiers or huntsmen….. Make it sound like a 1-way trip on each mission." She said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh not for you Sienna, you're my partner…. You'll be perfectly safe with me around: Because everyone will be too busy trying to kill me to notice you." I responded with a light chuckle, taking a lesson off the snipers and trying to fight through sadness with humour, no matter how offensive, bad or morbid it is.

Sienna raised an eyebrow "Have you really managed to piss that many people off?" My partner asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"Nearly, between my merc days and being a hired gun for the Schnees, I've got quite a few enemies... Also, question: You don't hold anything against me for working as a bodyguard for Weiss at all? I always see you, and every other Faunus here giving her dirty looks when she isn't looking." I responded, hoping I wasn't going to have to start watching Weiss' back more closely from pissed off Faunus.

Sienna averted her eyes, having been caught out. "It isn't the girl personally, even if she does act like a stuck up, bratty bitch. It is her father that we all really hate, her Grandfather treated his Faunus workforce quite well during the early days of the SDC, but that all changed when his son took over in the aftermath of the _Faunus War._" Sienna responded, seemingly knowing this all off by heart, I had to agree…. Given that I'd had a pretty hands-on role in that mistreatment of Faunus working for the SDC, as well as somewhat agreeing with Sienna's appraisal of Weiss' attitude, which while was improving now she was among people who didn't dote on her.

Deciding to not go further into this line of questioning given my risk of exposing parts of my past I'd rather forget, I just nodded in response, looking to the clock in the room and noting I had a few minutes more to chat with my partner. "Have you talked to your sister recently?" I asked, making sure things were fine with my partner…. I'd not brought this up since our fight nearly a month ago when she revealed her family history to me, I'd spent a while since then wondering if I'd met, fought or killed her parents when I'd been up in Atlas.

"I call her every day, as well as sending weekly progress reports to our _'guardians'_ to refresh their memories on how strong I'm becoming and what will happen to them if they harm my sister ever again." Sienna replied, a low growl emanating from her throat at the very thought of her younger sister being harmed.

I looked genuinely surprised "I could have sworn I was listening to a female, canine version of myself just then…. I thought you disapproved of such violent behaviour." I responded, with a mock rebuke.

Sienna just looked at me with a bemused look on her face "Unlike you, I don't look for trouble, nor do I strike first, ask questions later. I merely want to make sure no one EVER hurts my little Pearl again!" Sienna snarled back at me, bearing her large and sharp canine-like teeth.

"Ok, point taken…. I was just being humorous about this, I didn't mean to cause offence to you." I apologised, raising my hands in surrender, last thing I needed was for Sienna to maul me.

Sienna just shook her head at me. "I'll see you at breakfast. And Simon, I'm sorry to hear about your old commander, I can see you're hurting deeply from losing a close and trusted comrade, but remember that you're doing him very proud by becoming a huntsman." My partner said, sounding extremely sincere about trying to make me feel better.

"Thanks partner." I replied, slightly choked up as I raised my hand in a fist, Sienna looked at it for a moment and then pushed it away and grabbed me into a bear hug for the better part of half a minute. I nearly pushed her away at first, certainly not used to such things. But I eventually wrapped my arms around my friend's shoulders and returned the embrace.

"Anytime partner." She responded happily before exiting the dorm, leaving me to feel extremely torn… I didn't know how Sienna would react when she learnt the truth, I could guarantee that she'd be glad Ty had died rather than extending her condolences on his passing. Pushing this all aside I made my way into the bathroom to have a long, hot shower to clear my head.

**Beacon Cafeteria, half an hour later. 3****rd**** Person PoV:**

"Come on _Ice Queen_, what the hell is up with Mon Capitaine? He was mad as hell last night about something, well madder than usual anyway." Nyanza interrogated an increasingly frustrated Weiss.

"Go ask him yourself you oaf, he is your teammate." Weiss replied flustered at the pestering she'd received from Nyanza when she'd arrived in the cafeteria to simply grab a strawberry yoghurt (for Ruby) and a blueberry one for herself and then return to the library in order to continue helping the young reaper with an assignment from Dr Oobleck on the causes of the _Faunus War _which Ruby had forgotten to do.

"Yeah but you're his friend, and I know you two meet up on the dorm roof quite often of an evening so you gotta know what's gotten under his skin, and he'd tell you more than he'd ever trust to confide in us." Nyanza countered, knowing he was entirely correct on this.

Weiss narrowed her eyes "He confides in me because I keep our conversations just that: Confidential. I'm not the type of friend that listens to ones secrets then blabs about them to others, you seem to fit into that type quite comfortably though." Weiss replied with a very barbed tone for her barbed words before shoving past Nyanza roughly and walking out in a huff.

"Wow, that girl really needs to get laid, why couldn't have Simon done that when he was her bodyguard…. Probably would have made both of them much nicer people." Nyanza muttered under his breath, unfortunately it was loud enough that Weiss managed to hear it. Not even hesitating, Weiss turned on her heel and launched a blueberry yoghurt right into Nyanza's face. Without another word, the heiress left the cafeteria, dozens of students now laughing at Nyanza's misfortune while Sienna who had been looking on just smacked Nyanza over the head for his entirely inappropriate comments.

It was then that Simon entered the cafeteria just in time to see Weiss storm off, seeing a yoghurt covered Nyanza standing there like a stunned mullet with yoghurt dripping off his face and a big chunk of blueberry stuck in his nose.

"Wow, remind me to buy Weiss a drink….. Because that is the best thing I've seen this week." Simon laughed at his teammate, suddenly feeling a bit better about this week.

"It's your fault she's like this." Nyanza grumbled as he walked away back to the dorm to clean himself up.

"Ummm what's his problem?" Simon asked his partner, perplexed as to why Weiss had pelted him with a bowl of yoghurt, even though he wasn't complaining at all that it had happened.

"Well apparently he thinks that you and Weiss are so anti-social and well bitchy because you both got a lot of sexual frustration pent up and you should have released it together at _White Castle _thereby making you both much nicer company." Sienna explained in a more complex manner than she really needed to.

"Oh, he said that? Well excuse me a moment my dear partner…. I have something to attend to." Simon jogged over to the cafeteria bench and grabbed another bowl of blueberry yoghurt and proceeded to hurl it into the back of Nyanza's sandy haired head mere moments before he walked out the door to leave.

"What the actual fuck Si!" He yelled at Simon as Nyanza saw him almost doubled over in laughter, not happy laughter, but '_this makes the hurt lessen'_ type laughter.

"You know why Nyanza, now go clean yourself up." Sienna ordered mockingly.

Nyanza just grumbled and stormed out in a huff while Simon managed to get himself back under control before he grabbed some toast and scrambled eggs and a coffee for breakfast and took a seat with Sienna.

"Glad to see you're looking up." Sienna said happily as she munched on a hash brown.

"Well seeing Nyanza make an ass of himself never fails to improve my mood Sienna, you know that." Simon responded with a small laugh, it was a weak, forced laugh but a laugh nonetheless and it did make him feel slightly better. _'Damn those snipers are onto something here'_ he thought as he dug into breakfast.

Sienna just eyed Simon off, a slight look of concern on her face. "Well you should come into Vale with us this weekend? Nyanza's family runs a small diner in their neighbourhood and they've extended an invitation for us to join them for a meal, it's got to be better than sulking at Beacon over the weekend because you can't go do your oh so secret stuff." Sienna asked, adding the rebuke in a hushed whisper so as to not give fuel to any rumours about her partner and captain

Simon thought about it for a moment "I'll let you know this afternoon, I'll see what Velvet's plans are first." He replied, still grateful that Sienna was trying to help him but wanting to spend some time with Velvet away from Beacon, despite the potential risk of Levi turning up.

Sienna nodded understandingly, content that either option was better than letting Simon sulk around Beacon. "Fair enough, Hey. You come off your fighting restriction next week, looking forward to getting back into combat class?" Sienna asked, obviously trying to give Simon something to look forward to, lift his spirits even more.

Simon nodded "Yeah, hopefully I get an easy match up, Team CRDL would do perfectly for a warm up." He joked, it had become a running gag amongst the first years as Team CRDL and Jaune were well known to be among the weakest fighters in the class and were almost guaranteed to not make qualification to the Tournament at the Vytal Festival.

"You know Goodwitch doesn't like you enough to be that nice…. You'll probably end up against someone like Nora or Pyrrha who are among the top of the class." Sienna teased, knowing she was probably correct.

Simon just flipped his partner off and laughed. It was good to have these more light-hearted moments, it seemed once we'd all settled in and gave each other's egos space we could all get along, well except Nyanza, because he was just a clown.

Sienna waved behind Simon who turned to see Team CFVY enter the cafeteria, probably having just come from pre-class training together, Velvet waved back and after grabbing her breakfast directed her team over to sit with us, Teal following only moments later, coming for breakfast after her own morning workout.

"Ok, what's up? Simon doesn't look like a grouchy attack dog today…. What's made him smile? Well apart from Velvet anyway." Coco asked in a smartarsed manner, earning a chuckle from Fox.

"Well it involved Nyanza's skull, two bowls of Blueberry yoghurt, Weiss and myself" Simon explained, leaving the rest up to Coco's imagination.

Coco lowered her shades and raised an eyebrow "Really, and why wasn't I invited to this food fight?" Coco joked, being a lot less sassy than normal towards Simon at the behest of Velvet.

"Because knowing you: You've probably got some meatball shooting shotgun disguised as a purse hidden in your room for such an occasion." Simon instantly shot back which caused Coco to stutter and everyone, even Teal to chuckle.

Simon just laughed and laughed at seeing Coco at a loss for words, Velvet who was seated beside him just smiled and squeezed his hand gently below the table out of sight of others, causing Simon to go scarlet.

Simon could see Coco's face light up, ready to deliver an extremely smartarsed comment, but the young Huntsman stared down the upperclassman, warning Coco without words not to cause deep, public embarrassment to Velvet. Coco, despite toning down her antics for Velvet's sake most of the time did occasionally let the shy Faunus be the butt of the odd joke.

"Hey, Sienna did you-" Teal began to whisper but was cut off by Sienna.

"Yeah I asked him." Sienna whispered to her teammate, not wanting to rush Simon into making any plans…. Planning was not Simon's strong suit at all.

The group sat there talking and eating for about half an hour, even Yatsuhashi made some input when he wasn't drinking enough tea to fill a lake, once everyone had eaten their fill Sienna nudged Teal and they excused themselves to go and check up on Nyanza, leaving Simon alone with Team CFVY.

"So Si, reckon you'll make it into the tournament at the festival?" Fox asked, his eerie eyes looking right at the younger hunter.

"We'll probably find out soon enough, I'm cleared to return to combat practice next Monday so that should be something." Simon responded.

"You know if you want to learn from the best… you could always sit in and watch us 2nd years fight, I could show you a thing or two." Coco said cockily causing Velvet and Fox to face palm while Yatsuhashi shook his head.

"Coco, maybe…. But as I said when I first met you in Vale that Saturday, I've been in life and death combat since you were barely a teenager, I think I've got the art of combat pretty down pat." Simon responded icily, but a moment later smirked impishly.

"There's more to combat than dirty, underhanded moves Simon." Yatsuhashi spoke up, his tone disapproving of my methods, Velvet had explained to me another day that Honour in combat was very important to Yatsuhashi.

Simon had wanted to give his usual _Honour in combat only gets you dead_ lecture, but thought better of it, if only to keep the peace between him and CFVY which was needed to keep things between Velvet and himself going smoothly. So Simon did something he was not used to: being diplomatic and conceding the argument even when he wanted to prove his point.

Coco again raised an eyebrow "What, now smartarsed remark? What makes Yatsuhashi so special that you don't backchat to him?" the older girl asked in mock indignation.

"Because Yatsuhashi makes marvellous tea and dumplings, I'd be surprised if you can cook a tin of baked beans." Simon immediately shot back at the sassy fashionista.

Yatsuhashi, Velvet and Fox all immediately burst out laughing at how quickly I'd turned the tables on Coco, who just sat there speechless. "You traitors, I can understand Velvet being on his side: But you two!" She pointed at the 'traitors' Fox and Yatsuhashi, both of whom just shrugged and smirked at their captain. Coco just sighed defeated before looking to Simon "I'm actually serious about that though, come by the combat arenas during 2nd period and watch us upperclassmen fight it out, who knows you might learn something new." Coco offered Simon who thought about it.

"Well I do have a free period during 2nd period so I can make it, I just hope you're as good as you say you are Coco." Simon said as he stood from the table "I gotta go prepare for class, I'll see you in 2nd period." He then turned and left.

**Beacon Halls, 5 minutes later. Simon's PoV:**

I was feeling much, much better now that I'd had a good meal and an even better laugh, Kruger might be gone but I knew if there was some sort of afterlife then Kruger would be waiting at the bar for the rest of us, but until then he'd smite us where we stood if we didn't keep moving forward with our lives. I'd honour his memory and continue his and my work.

I was walking through the halls past Team RWBY and JNPR when out of JNPR's dorm flew Nora, literally flying right past me and into Team RWBY's dorm. Looking into the all-girl team's dorm just to make sure I wasn't imagining what I saw, and indeed I saw Nora splayed out on a mattress stolen from someone's bunk.

"Ummm, I'd hate to barge in like this. But is there a reason I nearly got killed by the flight of the Valkyrie?" I asked, trying to be polite.

I saw that Weiss and Ruby were nowhere to be seen, and of course that meant there was nothing but Ren to stop Yang and Nora causing mischief, while Ren might be easily able to contain Nora, he appeared to have been left helpless by Yang.

"Oh you know Simon, Gotta train for the unexpected…. You never know when we might need to catapult ourselves at Grimm to knock them out then finish them off with Hammering Time." Nora replied while jumping on the mattress on RWBY's floor. Looking back into JNPR's room I saw Yang and Jaune by a makeshift catapult made out of I couldn't even guess.

"Jaune, I will legitimately give you 500 Lien to catapult Weiss out of that thing." I offered the captain of team JNPR. "5000 Lien AND I'll cover any hospital expenses you incur from her retribution." I amended my deal, knowing Weiss would have vengeance upon Jaune.

"Ummm Simon, I personally would prefer to keep my blood an internal organs internal, but thanks for the offer." Jaune answered sheepishly, though I think his decision had more to do with trying to get into my charges' good books, both perfectly acceptable reasons.

As I was thinking about alternatives I saw Ruby walking up the hall, she looked into the open dorms and her eyes lit up "Ooooh, this looks like lots of fun, MY TURN!" The young reaper demanded.

It was then that I had a spark of genius "Ok Ruby, you can have a turn, go and get ready…. I gotta sort something out with Jaune and Yang first." I answered the redhead, who simply walked into JNPR's dorm, not suspecting the antic I'd just conscripted her for.

Yang and Jaune closed the JNPR dorm door, leaving Ruby with Pyrrha and Ren for a moment. "Ok short scarred and evil, what have you got in mind." Yang asked, sensing a prank was oncoming.

I smirked evilly, I'd never really gotten Weiss back for pushing me into a freezing lake and nearly giving me hyperthermia all those months ago, this seemed like a good as time as any "Well, I'll wait at the front of the RWBY dorm for Weiss, once you hear her outside, one of you open the door and the other launches Ruby at her." I answered, my tone one of extreme enthusiasm.

Yang raised an eyebrow "Wow, I never expected you to take part in pranking…. Nyanza always said you were such a wet blanket." She said pleasantly surprised that her former classmate was wrong.

"Nyanza says a lot of things Yang, that's normally why bad things happen to him involving blueberry yoghurt, or bare fisted boxing." I responded as Nora and Yang returned to the JNPR dorm to await the return of the heiress. The wait only lasted about 3 minutes when an annoyed looking Weiss came around the corner and towards the RWBY dorm. Her face lit up slightly and her scowl relaxed when she saw me at the door.

"Simon, is something wrong… have you gotten any more news from your old friends?" Weiss asked as she stopped in front of the open RWBY dorm door, just meters from the JNPR door.

"No, not as of yet…. But I do need to get in contact with them, so thanks for reminding me. But the reason I'm here is just to thank-you for being such a good friend to me, especially for saving my life. But at the same time I forgive you Weiss." Said in a very heartfelt manner.

Weiss just looked confusedly at me as she heard the JNPR door swing open beside her, before she had time to react she was bowled over by an airborne Ruby who knocked Weiss over and landed on top of the Heiress in a tangle of arms and legs and cape.

"I forgive you for pushing me into the frozen lake at _White Castle_ Weiss. I'll see you in class best friend." I said a moment before I took off sprinting back to the SNST Dorm, not looking back to see the chaos I'd created.

**That Same Time. Weiss' PoV:**

I was returning to the dorm after having cleaned up Ruby and I's study area to prepare for when I saw Simon standing outside our dorm, I figured he had heard some more news from his old _Black Fist _comrades and whether he had to say goodbye to another member of an ever shrinking circle of people he trusted. I stopped by our door to speak to him, not even paying attention to the mattress laid out on the floor.

I asked what he needed and answered my question in a manner that was usual enough for him, then he began thanking me for being there for him. I was used to him making statements like this during our rooftop talks, he was well aware he only draws breath now because of me. But for him to state so publicly was extremely odd for someone as reserved and secretive as my bodyguard turned best friend. Then the real red flag came when he said he forgave me and the sound of the JNPR door opening just to my right.

I turned just in time to see Ruby flying towards me and knocking me down into our dorm, Ruby landing right on top of me, her head in my chest. I heard Simon yell something about forgiving me for pushing him into a frozen lake before sprinting off, leaving me with a dazed, maybe unconscious Ruby on me and Team JNPR/RWBY (minus Blake who was in the Library) all laughing at me and Ruby's compromising position.

"Hey Weissy, don't go getting to comfy with my sister or I'd have to beat you up" Yang joked, this just had to be her idea…. Simon was just an accomplice and Jaune was there under duress.

I gently rolled Ruby off and made sure she was still breathing and conscious: she was. Then I turned to Yang and put her in an immobilising glyph, which no matter how hard she struggled, could not break out of. "YOU! Yang Xiao Long! Why did you think it necessary to do this before class, or at all!?" I half-yelled as I closed the door behind us, giving Team RWBY some privacy.

"Hey, it was Simon's idea…. He even tried to bribe Jaune 500 Lien to get us to catapult you." Yang said, trying to doom Simon to save her own skin.

I merely shrugged "Simon had a legitimate reason for that idea….. But you were only too happy to volunteer and get as much comedic value out of it at my expense. I'll deal with Simon in my own time… but I got you here right now." I remarked evilly.

"Now, Weissy I'm sure we can come to an agreement without anything having to happen to my hair!" Yang begged defensively.

I raised an eyebrow "Now Yang, I'm not suicidal as to mess with your hair" I said as I walked over to Ruby and helped my partner up before whispering in her ear. Ruby giggled and smirked evilly at her sister, this made Yang very afraid as Ruby slowly made her way towards the immobilised sister, and then lunged at Yang's sides, a flurry of tickles causing Yang to cry out in pained laughter.

I just grabbed her stuff for classes and walked to the door "Don't worry Yang, the glyph will wear off in about 15 minutes, until then you're at Ruby's mercy." I said before walking out, not paying attention to Yang's begging or her tearful, pained laughs of Ruby once more attacking her sister. I had to talk to Simon, I was mad about his and Yang's prank, but Simon did have good reason…. I'd been wrong to snap at him so harshly over a dress from when I was 12 and didn't even know Simon.

The more I had thought about it over the months Simon worked for me after confessing that, the more I realised that him stealing that dress and using it as a bed to make his horror a little less horrific was one of the few acts of kindness and charity I'd done in my youth, and even that was indirectly and I hated the perpetrator for years.

That incident had caused me to take a good long look at myself, it was part of the reason I always tried to help Simon all I could to work through his many, MANY issues. Which brought me to why I was making my way to his dorm: I needed a straight answer of what exactly Simon, my friend, was caught up in… I did not want him going and getting himself killed on some fool's errand trying to emulate his former commander.

I turned several corners and eventually reached the SNST dorm and as I was about to knock on the door, it opened to reveal the sandy coloured boy, Nyanza. He just stared at me for a moment before slamming it in my face and locked it. I stood there for a moment hearing heated whispers and eventually the tell-tale sound of a punch being thrown. It was then that Simon opened the door, Nyanza was in the background nursing a bruised eye and a bruised ego.

Simon stepped out and closed the door, looking much better "You wanted to see me Weiss? And I hope this isn't to inflict upon me some measure of vengeance for hurling Ruby at you."

I shook my head "No, I just want to know exactly how you ended up injured… no vague half-truths either, I want real, precise details." I ordered, eyes piercing right into his soul.

Simon sighed in resignation, knowing he'd never get rid of me until I got my answer. Looking around to make sure no one else was around he motioned me to follow him around the corner. Leaning in close to my ear Simon whispered ever so quietly to me "I've been meeting with some old friends from before I worked with you…. Some orphans like me, others worked with me under Ty, even two former SSB snipers who joined the _Fist_. One of them is now a _Vale intelligence_ Cipher agent, I've been working with him and the Vale _Head Hunters_ to move _Fist_ deserters out of Vale and away from those who'd see them dead, as well as to find a fellow orphan whose lost his mind and is in need of my help. I got injured in a trap… crooked operatives bribed by the _Fist_ set us up to assassinate some _Fang_ officers…. We killed them and nearly got killed by their guards." Simon explained, looking down sheepishly but he seemed relieved.

I looked at him, my expression was one of shock "Well that certainly is much more extreme than any of the rumours: _Head Hunters_ and _Intelligence_? You certainly enjoy having dangerous company. But seriously…. You're playing a stupidly dangerous game with not only your life but the life of your friends!" I warned, not at all wanting to see myself, or SNST drawn into the dangerous underworld that Simon had become part of and knowing that Simon would do all he could to keep those he cared about out of it, but he had limits.

"I know Weiss, I didn't even realise what I'd gotten myself into until it was too late to back out… But now that I've started, I'm damned well going to finish it…. I'm not going to let those butchers murder anymore deserters or innocent Faunus, nor am I going to let the _Fang_ murder and pillage in the name of social justice." Simon retorted quietly, his eyes constantly flicking about to watch for anyone else who might hear our conversation.

I nodded understandingly "I get that, you feel guilty and you want to try and fix things for those that have shared that journey with you while taking it to those that subjected you to four years of hell. But there's no good in getting yourself killed in the process, people depend on you now Simon so you need to use those self-preservation instincts I know you have." I ordered firmly, as if I was still his employer.

Simon just rolled his eyes and gave me a mock salute "Yes ma'am, survival instincts on ma'am." He replied mockingly as he could. I just shook my head at my friend's immaturity. I turned to walk away when I felt Simon's hand on my shoulder. "Before you go, one other thing: Velvet and I, we… we've kinda started dating." Simon confessed, a tone of happiness I rarely heard from him in his voice.

I stood there for a moment before I realised just how big of a deal this was, Simon, like myself was very insular and kept almost everyone at an arm's length. We might make friends but we always kept ourselves behind and emotional wall, for someone to get through those barriers and manage to get Simon to convince himself that he could pursue a romance was a testament to just how much Velvet meant to Simon, even if he suppressed the memories of her when he was a soldier of the _Fist_.

I smiled at my friend, I was genuinely happy to see him fall in love, though I was also slightly fearful for Simon of the complications that could arise from his past. I also felt a slight feeling of jealousy, not against Velvet. Simon was a close friend and we both saw each other platonically, but I was jealous of Simon for being able to trust someone enough to let his barriers down, I had no such person and the boys my father tried to match me with had put me right off dating, I'd seen the absolute worst of male teenagers and Simon more often than not took them aside and clipped them around the ears if they tried getting too hands on.

Simon beamed absolute delight "You'd better get going Weiss, I gotta head to class soon, but it was very good to get those things off my chest…. I can keep secrets easily, but not from you… it hurts hiding stuff from you but sometimes it is required for the good of others. If you're not busy over the weekend maybe we can grab a bite to eat, be able to actually spend some time outside of Beacon together." Simon said as he turned back to his dorm, whistling a tune as he went, leaving me alone with my thoughts as I walked back to see if Yang had managed to escape the immobilising glyph yet.

**2****nd**** Year Combat Class, Simon's PoV: **

I'd ended up taking Coco up on her offer of watching the 2nd years in their combat classes during my spare period…. Just as something to take my mind off more unpleasant thoughts., I saw several 3rd and 4th years here as well, gauging how their sophomore class was going, I pondered why the upperclassmen never came to watch the first years fight _'Probably because they see us as rookies not worthy of their time'_ I thought as I leaned against a pillar in the back corner of the stands, watching the action from a distance. I had to say: I was impressed with these older students, they fought with much more intensity, strength, tactics and flexibility in both body and combat style. But I hadn't seen Coco put her money where her mouth is and kick ass yet.

However the next match up was interesting Velvet vs Fox. I saw the two teammates enter the arena, Fox sporting his usual gauntlets and Velvet, I was extremely confused when I saw Velvet enter the arena completely unarmed, save her combat outfit. I was extremely perplexed, but the 2nd years seemed accustomed to Velvet being unarmed as I heard no surprised whispers at her state of disarmament. So I looked on, wondering exactly was going on here.

I didn't have to wait long to get my answer. Once the match started I saw Fox charge Velvet, trying to slash at her with his bladed gauntlets, Velvet however merely did a handspring right over Fox, landing behind him and using a sweeping kick to knock her teammate off balance. Fox, without benefit of sight was caught off guard by Velvet's sudden acrobatic move. But Fox bounced back quickly with several slashes finding their mark on Velvet as well as a fierce head-butt to Velvet's head when she was caught off guard by a feint by Fox at slashing at her.

I felt pissed at Fox, I just wanted to be able to grasp my sniper rifle from thin air and take a shot at his head for striking Velvet. I knew it was silly of me to think that, given that this was important training for her to become a Huntress and I wouldn't allow myself to coddle her, but I did feel unending rage at the thought of someone trying to harm her and promising myself to put all the training in pain that Lachlan had taught me to good use if anyone ever did assault her with killing intent.

Focusing back into the match I saw Velvet backflip away from Fox, kicking him in the chin as she flipped. Velvet and Fox now stood at opposite ends of the arena, I could see Velvet was putting all her effort into moving silently, not wanting to alert the blind but nor death Fox to her location, lest he bring the ranged function of his weapon to bare.

Velvet and Fox circled each other slowly, Fox trying to sense out the light-footed bunny and Velvet trying to sneak in close for a kill strike. Unfortunately for Velvet, Fox struck first, surging forward, leading with a kick to Velvet's knees and then an uppercut followed by upwards slashes, knocking Velvet's aura levels down pretty far, they went from nearly full to half in a moment, but Velvet was not deterred. She instead grabbed Fox by the arms and judo threw him into the ground face first. Velvet's next step was to jump on Fox's back, pinning him and wrench one of Fox's Gauntlets off, which she seemed to be an expert at, probably through a lot of practice. Velvet had the first weapon off and tossed out of the arena in milliseconds. However before she could remove the 2nd Fox bucked his back, causing Velvet to dislodge, the blind bladesman shoved Velvet off and flipped away, having to make do with one gauntlet. Velvet readied herself, assuming a fighting position about 20m from Fox. Velvet moved first and moved swiftly, sprinting in and sweeping foxes ankles out from under him, Fox performed a handspring and evaded Velvet's elbow strike. This game of Rabbit and Fox continued on for several minutes, neither combatant able to gain a decisive advantage over the other.

I was extremely impressed by just how much of an expert at unarmed combat my Velvet is, I made mental note to never challenge her to a hand-to-hand sparring session. Velvet and Fox both moved quickly but were both visibly exhausted from high intensity hand to hand. Everyone in the crowd were cheering the two on. It eventually came down to a match of endurance, which Velvet was winning, she was able to draw on additional energy reserves thanks to her Faunus nature whereas Fox was just getting more and more tired as he lashed out at Velvet with his remaining gauntlet, he became sloppy which allowed Velvet to capitalise on it and roll him to the ground and into an arm bar submission maneuverer on his disarmed arm. It took 30 seconds of pressure but Fox eventually gave in and tapped out.

The crowd erupted in cheers as Velvet curtsied in appreciation. My hands were hurting from clapping, but damn I was very impressed at how much of an efficient combatant Velvet really was, Coco was right: I could learn some new skills, maybe not from Coco but certainly from Velvet. I leaned against the pillar, kinda disappointed that Coco wasn't called upon to fight today, but that didn't matter as Velvet and Fox had put on such an excellent match.

As Goodwitch dismissed the class I waited by the exit for Team CFVY to emerge, Yatsuhashi and Coco were both supporting their teammates who were both absolutely exhausted. "Good match Velvy, Coco was right… I could certainly learn from you a few new tricks." I said, mocking Coco's declaration that she could teach me a few things.

Coco scowled at me "I wanna find whoever taught you to be so sassy and shake their hand at doing such a good job, then kill them for the same reason." The CFVY captain grumbled.

I just laughed "Coco, those two are top tier snipers, specialists in Aura Penetrating weapons, they could end you from a mile away, and I don't think you'll be killing them anytime soon." I shot back, irritating the fashionista.

"Is that a challenge you smartarse?" Coco inquired.

Before I could answer the sound of Velvet clearing her throat got both our attentions. "Coco, you won't be murdering Simon's friends. Simon, you could try not antagonising my captain? She has little to no restraint on her ego as you surely know by now, but then again neither do you sometimes.." Came her playful yet serious rebukes of myself and more so Coco.

Coco and I looked at Velvet and then each other and then at Velvet again. We were simply stunned that the usually shy and reserved Faunus had just simultaneously burned us both to crisps. "Ok, who are you and what have you done with the real Velvet Scarlatina" I joked, earning an eye roll from Velvet.

Velvet freed herself from Yatsuhashi's support and wobbled a bit before regaining her balanced "Can you guys go ahead, I just gotta speak to Simon for a moment." Velvet asked politely of her team. Yatsuhashi bowed and began walking away. Coco gave a knowing wink and a smirk before following suit, taking Fox with her.

"Something on your mind Velvet?" I asked as I fell in beside her and walked alongside slowly.

"Not really, just seeing if you were getting out of Beacon this weekend." Velvet responded walking slightly gingerly from her match but I could see the happy spring in her step.

"Yeah, apparently Nyanza's family is very eager to meet us so he's taking us over to his family's diner tonight, but tomorrow or Sunday I've got no real plans if you're asking me out." I replied quietly, adding in a small comment of a _Date_ just to see the embarrassed blush from Velvet, who indeed go a shade of crimson at the innocent insinuation.

"Ummm, sure. Saturday for lunch?" Velvet whispered in return, suddenly very aware she was in a public place and she nearly seized up at the thought of someone asking if she and I were together-together.

I resisted the urge to eye roll, Velvet was much shier and less immune to being affected by the public rumour mill than I. "Sure, sounds good. I'll meet you at the Saturday Markets in the artisan district and we can go from there?"

Velvet looked over at me and smiled "I think that sounds wonderful, the markets are always very nice. BTW have you given any thought to coming back to Exton, I don't mean to be pushy about this but a lot of our old friends are eager to see you." Velvet explained, but still putting me on the spot.

I thought about it for a moment, deciding it was better to do it sooner rather than later. "Ok Velvet, I'll go to Exton with you during the two week break at end of semester? That sound alright to you?" I asked, mentally cursing myself for agreeing to this but I knew I had to go back, I had to stop hiding from who I used to be and what I'd become.

Velvet smiled widely "Thanks Simon, I-I'll talk to my parents tonight and organise for you to stay with us." She responded, sounding absolutely over the moon. I just smiled in return, not betraying the massive anxiety I now felt over this idea but I was going to push forward and face it, for Velvet. We walked together in silence for a moment, looking around I noticed a few curious glances, but for the most part people were minding their own business, my run in with Cardin yesterday had reinforced my reputation as a hard ass and as someone not to cross, but I was honestly surprised that Goodwitch or Ozpin hadn't taken me to task over it. As we came towards one of the main halls Velvet and I had to go separate ways to period 3 classes. I said my goodbyes and resisted the urge to blow her a kiss. As I walked away I realised that even though Ty was gone, my life would go on and it was possible to find happiness even in a world of death and hellfire. How little I realised just how important this skill would become further down the track.

**That Afternoon, Vale Residential District, Simon's PoV:**

I walked down the streets of one of Vale's outer suburbs, unlike downtown Vale with its skyscrapers and modern architecture, this area had mainly single or double story buildings and the dwellings were slightly older, though not rundown like the shanty towns in the Faunus quarter. The people here were much more laid back, relaxed and less standoffish than those towards the inner city. People said hello and were quite friendly to us, though I believe it was mainly due to us being with Nyanza who seemed to be basically a neighbourhood hero for choosing to become a hunter. But then again that was a normal occurrence, Hunters were very much revered by the majority of civilised, law abiding citizens. They saw Hunters as a Beacon of light that keeps in check not only the forces that seek to destroy the kingdom but also the more shadowy government organisations such as _Vale Intelligence_. If only they knew that several Hunters were counted among the elite Cipher agents, then the good citizens of Vale might think twice about such blind faith in the Hunters.

Shaking off my mental cynicism I put on a happy face, I got curious looks from a lot of people. It seems Nyanza had made sure people around here knew just who his captain was. The looks were sympathetic though no one thankfully touched on the subject when they were engaged in conversation with Nyanza during the walk, the people here were most considerate in that respect.

Eventually we found our way to a small diner on a small side street, it looked relatively busy for a small business in the outer suburbs. "Well, this is the _Torres' Takeaway _and also my family's home on the 2nd storey." Nyanza announced proudly, seeing him so enthusiastic and completely without smartarse remarks was very much unlike Nyanza. Looking over to Sienna and Teal I saw looks of apprehension on their faces about this.

Nyanza went to open a door when it was opened for him and a man in a Vale Air Fleet uniform and had the same sandy coloured hair as Nyanza appeared. "Nyanza, Mum said you'd be coming around today." The man, who looked to be in his mid-20's commented.

Nyanza turned to us, looking very relaxed and uncharacteristically happy "This is my older brother, Flight Lieutenant Copper Torres. Call sign: Raging Bull. He pilots Warheads for the VDF." Nyanza introduced his brother, pride radiating from our teammate.

"Ok, where's the real Nyanza? The Nyanza that's on my team is never this enthusiastic about ANYTHING." I commented, mildly insulting my teammate.

Copper just laughed "Lazy Nyanza? Only when his parents aren't around…. If he is within 100m of them then he's the hardest worker you'll ever meet, if only to avoid their wrath for not helping out. Isn't that right Ny?" The oldest Torres child smirked.

I raised an eyebrow "Well that settles it, your parents need to move to Beacon to assist me in keeping this terror in check." I retorted, finding common ground with Copper in our tormenting of Nyanza.

Nyanza just huffed and led us all into the diner where within moments a large man looking to be in about his 50's with sandy coloured hair that was beginning to go bald in a chef's apron came out the front with several plates of food and handed them off to a girl who looked to be slightly older than Nyanza. Upon seeing us he all but charged out the front. "Nyanza! My boy…. So you finally come and visit your dear old papa, only took you two months since leaving to become a big, strong huntsman." The older Torres laughed, dragging Nyanza into a hug and literally lifting him off the ground.

I felt a pang of jealousy, and I could tell that Teal and Sienna were feeling the same: Nyanza had what we'd all wanted and dreamed of having. A loving, stable family environment. Sienna and I had lost our families and I would hardly call Teal's loving or stable from what I'd heard from her about the _Wolfsbane_ clan.

"Dad, please…. You're breaking my ribs." I heard Nyanza squeak over the laughs and chuckles of the patrons of the diner.

"Pfft, if I can hurt you then I should go see your headmaster because he obviously isn't training you hard enough, HA!" The Torres Patriarch laughed with his youngest child.

Eventually Nyanza struggled free and stood next to Teal. "Team SNST, this is my father. Nyanza Torres the third. Technically I'm Nyanza Torres IV." Nyanza explained, rubbing his head in mild embarrassment. "Father, this is my team: Sienna Reynolds, our defence expert. Teal Wolfsbane, Dust expert." Nyanza paused when he pointed to me for a moment, "This is Mon Capitaine, the ghost himself: Simon Alexander." Nyanza introduced us all, making sure my name was said in but a whisper, lest it cause a flurry of questions from curious patrons.

I glared at Nyanza for the use of the moniker _Ghost_, I found the term quite insulting as it insinuated that someone was skilful enough to actually have a chance at killing me. The older Torres shook each of our hands, lingering with me. "Nyanza hasn't said too much about you all in his calls home, so I'd love to hear more. But that can wait until later once we're able to sit down for a proper meal. For now just find a seat and relax." The older Torres offered, motioning to a booth in the corner.

Sitting down, myself in the back corner next to Sienna, across was Nyanza between Teal and his brother. "So Teal, How do you survive being this pest's Partner?" Copper asked, mocking his younger sibling.

Teal just shrugged "It was horrific at first, but Simon is a pretty good keeper of the peace… most of the time." Teal replied with a smile.

"Ha! I knew you were lying when you said you actually behaved yourself at school." Copper laughed, ruffling Nyanza's sandy hair.

"Says the guy who nearly got thrown out of the military for starting 3 separate brawls in 3 separate pubs in a single night!" Nyanza countered indignantly.

Copper seemed to shrink within himself "Hey, no need to bring that up in front of guests." Copper chastised Nyanza.

It was then that a girl with sandy coloured hair arrived with a note pad "Hey Copper, Nyanza and guests Dad wanted to know if you wanted anything to eat or drink… It's going to be another hour till him and mum are able to join you guys." The girl asked.

"Well Venus, so long as you're the one cooking, I'd hate to make more work for dad. I think we'll get some garlic breads and no wine for me tonight…. I got to fly tomorrow so I can't drink, some ginger ale instead." Copper answered.

"Team, this is my older sister: Venus Torres. She works here when she isn't at university studying psychology…. She'd make a great friend for you Simon." Nyanza introduced his sister while simultaneously insulting me, but I had to be polite and merely smile at the remark about my sanity or lack thereof if you listened to Nyanza.

Venus zeroed in on Teal, and impish grin on her face and instantly Sienna and I knew what was coming. "Well Ny-Ny, 'bout time you brought a girl home for mum and dad to meet, they were so worried you'd be alone forever with how much of a pest you are. And wow, you really did pick quite a looker aye."

Sienna and I just lost our shit in laughter while I couldn't tell who looked more insulted and disgusted at that prospect out of Teal and Nyanza. Both of which stuttered in pure anger at Venus who seemed to be just as much of a smartass as Nyanza, probably where he learned it from.

"I'll be back in 10 with some Garlic bread. Copper if they want anything to drink you go get it." Venus said once she managed to stop laughing before walking off to take other customer's orders.

"Your family seems nice enough Nyanza…. Unlike you." Teal said to Nyanza mockingly, which made Copper laugh.

"Nice one Teal….. Good to see you guys don't just let Nyanza get away with not being mocked on a daily basis, dust knows he does it to everyone else." Copper joked, reaching over and high fiving Nyanza's partner. This began an hour long free-for-all insult war between the 5 occupants of the booth.

**That Same Time, 200m from Torres' Takeaway. Levi's PoV:**

Having easily followed a distracted I was sitting with an expert marksmen from the _Fist_ in the back of a room with a clear view of that disgrace of a human Simon. '_Conversing with a Faunus girl, Oh how far the mighty have fallen.'_ I thought as I looked through the binoculars at my former friend and comrade being friends with a Faunus, it made me sick to my stomach that he could be with her for more than 10 seconds and not have taken her head off.

"I got a shot lined up on Simon, just say the word and I'll end his pathetic life." The shooter questioned, his eye not leaving his scope.

Looking around the street I noticed something interesting, a business man outside the diner about 20m down the street, except it wasn't really a business man. It was Gregory's minder, _Minder-27_ that meant Gregory was not too far off either, watching over his friend probably suspecting I or another of Simon's many enemies would try to get at him.

"Don't fire, _Intelligence_ has agents in the area. If we fire we're sure to get caught, and I personally have no interest on getting into a firefight with them in broad daylight." I responded, ordering the shooter to stand down. The fact Gregory was somewhere out there was only part of the reason I took this course of action…. I personally found it cowardly to snipe a person like that, I wanted to get in close and look that traitor in the eyes when I ended him, screw Lachlan's orders in this case.

The shooter began disassembling his weapon and placing it into a briefcase in parts. We'd have to wait here till nightfall and escape out a back alley towards our next target, it was far too much of a risk to go onto the main street in these circumstances. _'You can't hide behind Gregory forever Simon. I will have you one day!' _I thought as I closed the window and made my way back towards the middle of the apartment lest I be seen by Gregory or his Minder out a window.

**Gregory's PoV:**

I knew Levi was up there, starring at a window from a 100m away while keeping my cover as a street cleaner.

"Shouldn't we move in and apprehend or neutralise the target sir?" I heard _Minder-27_ ask through our communicators.

"No, not here and not now. Too many innocent civilians around, Keeper ordered us NOT to create a scene. What do you think will happen if we draw weapons here?" I commed back, I knew _Minder-27_ would not contest my order but he'd also know that we could get the job done without causing a scene, the other reason was that if something were to go down it would draw a currently oblivious Simon and his team into the fight and that would create a whole mess for Simon if his team learned of his involvement in the _Fist_ and with _Intelligence_.

"Understood sir, I'll tell the watchers to keep drones overhead should the targets try to escape. We'll get them sir." _Minder-27_ replied.

'_No you won't…. You think Levi is dumb enough to let something like a drone catch him? He's got plenty of escape routes planned I just know it._' I thought, not really wanting to catch Levi with _Minder-27_ or any other agent as they'd be too quick to simply kill Levi, not help him as I want to. So I'd continue to play cat and mouse until I could get Levi cornered by myself, Simon and maybe the Snipers… it was the only way to ensure we all come out alive. I continued my surveillance of both Levi and of Simon, to ensure he didn't get up to mischief or in trouble.

**1 Hour Later. Simon's PoV:**

It had been quite an enjoyable experience talking with Copper, he was very much like Nyanza, except he had more tact with his insults and mockery than the youngest Torres did, except when it came to insulting Nyanza or his sister.

"Well the first match he ever fought with his gauntlets, he was strangled into unconsciousness by the tethers of his own weapons, and I've even got a tape of it to prove it." Copper laughed at Nyanza's expense.

"I knew it! I knew I could do that if I wanted!" I laughed loudly, punching the air in triumph at confirming my preferred way to bring about Nyanza's doom.

Nyanza just buried his head in his hands from the embarrassment he was suffering from the combined efforts of us and Copper, and Venus when she came to our table. "I suddenly and entirely regret bringing you guys here." The boy whined.

"I don't these three are practically family now through our mutual love of taking the piss out of you." Copper chortled.

I looked at Sienna and Teal who both froze at the mention of _Family_. I could see looks of hurt in both their eyes and I began to silently agree with Nyanza, it may have been a mistake to bring those two and maybe even myself here… I just hoped this wouldn't cause a massive rift of jealous animosity among SNST over Nyanza actually having a family who cared.

It was then that the door to the shop opened and a women who also looked to be in her 50's entered and immediately made a beeline for Nyanza "Oh my baby boy is here!" The woman said with delight as she made her way to our table. It took a lot of effort for me to keep my face level, the jealousy really hit me hard when I saw Nyanza's mother fawning over her baby boy and I could tell it had cut Sienna and Teal deeply.

I could see a look of guilty on Nyanza's face as he finally managed to wrangle free of his mother's embrace, it was obvious he hadn't expected his parents to go over the top like this and I could see he felt bad for the effect it was having on myself and the girls. "So these are your friends? I'm Diamond Torres, Nyanza's mother." The woman introduced herself, and for the 4th time in an hour we reintroduced ourselves, I just hoped that no more of Ny's family arrived for this, because it looked like it was going to be a very long night indeed….

**Several Hours later, Torres' Takeaway. Simon's PoV:**

It had been an interesting night. Sienna, Teal and I mainly acted as silent flies-on-the-wall as the Torres pack reunited and perpetually embarrassed our Nyanza to no end, who had little or no return fire against his siblings or his parents, it honestly was amazing to see Nyanza's ego systematically destroyed… It almost overpowered the immense yet suppressed feeling of jealousy I felt, almost and I could tell that Teal and Sienna felt the same, eventually it was getting near 9pm and the shop had long since closed and I decided it was time to get out of here, I could almost feel the shadows of the _Fist_ and _Fang _closing in on this place.

"Oh, no. Absolutely not, you are guests to our family and we'd be happy to bunk you upstairs for tonight." The older Nyanza offered firmly, looking almost insulted that we wanted to leave at this time of night.

"I know Mr Torres, but I think Nyanza deserves some quality time with his family seeing as he hasn't seen you in two months." I responded, doing my best to sound respectful, but I knew that Teal and Sienna were both about to crack.

"Well at least let us pay for a taxi back to the air pad for you three." Diamond Torres offered to which I held up my hand.

"No need, I can pay for it I swear, you just spend some time with Ny and the girls might come around tomorrow." I explained as I got out my scroll to call a cab, being told it would take about 5 minutes for it to get here. So the girls and I said our goodbyes and by the time we were walking out the door the taxi was arriving.

I could feel myself being watched from the shadows, what I'd have given to have a set of thermal goggles at that point to see what was lurking in the darkness. As I climbed into the cap, taking the driver side window in the back seat. The cab ride was silent for the most part, I just looked out the window mostly while the girls whispered in hushed conversation. I could have sworn I saw people running across rooftops, but I put it down to paranoia and ignored it. We made it to the air pad and jumped on a waiting bullhead that I'd arranged to meet us there. As soon as we had boarded and were alone, due to the cockpit door being closed. We all blew a sigh of relief.

"You two alright?" I asked the girls as we got airborne.

"Honestly part of me wants to hit Nyanza, the other part wants to be him." Teal replied honestly.

"His family seemed nice, though I don't think Nyanza understood the affect that tonight was going to have on us." Sienna added on.

I could see the animosity starting to fester so I did something I rarely did: Defend Nyanza from the girls.

"I don't think the purpose of tonight for Nyanza was to lord it over us the fact he has a family, He's never really told us much about his life whereas he knows plenty of our misfortunes and he feels quite overwhelmed and probably very guilty for not coming from broken homes like us. I think he just wanted to include us in his even for a night to try and make us all feel included. So don't go holding it against Nyanza for trying to show a bit of compassion that kinda backfired, he doesn't deserve that ridicule and I don't want this to become a team breaking issue." I ordered firmly at the girls who just nodded tiredly.

The rest of the trip went silently and by the time we got back to Beacon we all went to bed, quite exhausted from the week and looked forward to a good sleep-in.

**A/N:** This chapter really does try to take a deeper look at other characters like the other members of SNST, Sanderson, Weiss and Team CFVY while still advancing the story somewhat, there is about 5 more chapters until this story hits the end of RWBY volume 1, so things are going to certainly pick up pretty damned quickly.

I hope you all enjoy this jumbo sized chapter and I hope to hear your opinions on it and my development of the characters. –CC Signing off.


	45. First Date-1 year anniversary chapter

**A/N: **This is a special chapter for me, today marks 1 year since I first published _From Hunted to Hunter_ during which time the story has been viewed **36,632** times, gained **87 **followers and **66** favourites and received **169** reviews. This is a pretty major milestone for myself given the amount of times I've come to simply discontinuing the story when my writing didn't meet my personal standards or when my life took a turn for the worse, but thanks to the encouragement of the awesome group of followers I've accumulated who are always full of feedback and ideas I've managed to keep this story not only alive but thriving and ever expanding. Really the ideas you guys give me have spawned some of this story's best moment's e.g Glynda meeting the snipers. I just really want to thank each and every one of you for joining me on this journey and I look forward to continuing it with you all until its completion. –**CC-2224 Commander Cody.**

**Chapter 44: First Date. Saturday Week 8, Simon's PoV: **

I awoke early, as had Teal and Sienna, both of which looked pretty happy, well happier than when they'd gone to sleep.

"Morning you two, up for a light jog before we go into Vale?" I asked as I pulled on my Rugby league shorts and shoes.

"Nope, I just wanna enjoy the peace while Nyanza is away." Teal said sleepily as she stretched out in her bed, I wasn't going to push Teal into given she was always training during the week in her spare time.

"Fuck it, I'm going to grab something to drink on the way back, if you want something then speak now or forever hold your peace." I asked of the two lazing girls opposite me.

"Just a drink of juice." Teal asked, probably still full from the massive amount of food Nyanza's family had prepared for us, even Nyanza couldn't handle all that he was given, and that is saying something given how much of a guts he was.

"I'm good Simon, I've never seen so much food, and I think I'll be full all weekend." Sienna joked lightly before rolling over to doze off again.

I just rolled my eyes at the pair and placed my scroll into a holder attached to my upper arm and put some earphones in so I could listen to music as I ran before exiting the dorm, ignoring team CRDL scrambling for their dorm's door as they saw me exit. _'At least they still fear me if no one else does anymore.'_ I thought as I walked down the stairs of the dormitory building and started jogging as soon as I hit the exit.

I spent the better part of the next hour jogging around Beacon, stopping every few minutes to do push ups or sit ups or some other exercise, by the end I was pretty tired, but feeling good as my injured leg didn't hurt at all so my aura had done its job and healed me, though I'll certainly be carrying more scars from the gunshots and the massive cut across my back. I knew if I focused my aura I could probably heal them, or at least make them less visible but like my facial scars they served as both momentous of battles past and lessons of what happens when I become complacent of overconfident. I neared the entrance to the dorms when the music cut off in my scroll, replaced by my text message tone. Stopping to retrieve the scroll I didn't recognise the address and opened the message: it was David Sanderson, straight outta Atlas.

_Simon,_

_I'm sure by now you've heard of Ty's death, and I'm sure you'd jump at the chance to help finish what he started. Call me via the CCT when you get the chance on this frequency, there's someone out there in some serious need of your gun staff's blade through the neck._

_Sanderson._

I looked over the message, I could go to the CCT now but I didn't trust it to not be traced or listened into. I needed to get to the connection Gregory had in his safe house that was guaranteed to be untraceable or tappable …. But getting there was going to be the trick given that I had 5 people running supervision on me. _'God Dammit Ozpin, you sure know how to make things exceedingly difficult!'_ I thought frustrated at my current predicament. I deleted the message from my scroll but saved the frequency to my contacts before starting the music again and making my way towards the cafeteria to pick up the juice for Teal, using the walk to try and figure out a way to get to Gregory's that wouldn't cause too much trouble or raise suspicion.

I was deep in concentration I didn't even notice that someone had begun walking alongside me.

"I know that look Mr Alexander, something troubling you?" Came the voice that was the enigma himself, Professor Ozpin.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, furious at myself that I was snuck up on…. A fatal mistake if ever there was one.

"Sorry Professor, just deep in thought…. It has been a, a tumultuous week for myself sir." I replied, resisting the urge to beat the professor's skull in with his own cane for frightening me like that.

"I imagine it has been, But whatever it is you're up to. I hope you are thinking through your actions very thoroughly. What actions you choose to take may come back to haunt you in unexpected ways, with consequences not only for yourself but those around you." Ozpin replied, his tone and his meaning seemingly ambiguous to anyone that maybe nearby but clear enough in its meaning to me: don't endanger my team or this school.

"I promise Ozpin that this time I'll take our chat to heart, I'm trying to do what I think is right." I replied sincerely, still fuming that Ozpin had snuck up on me.

"That is all I can ask of you Simon, I and others may disagree on your specific ideas of what is right but so long as you can look at yourself in the mirror each morning and not feel disgusted then that's all you can do. Also, I do not know if you've been informed yet but your friend Kale has finally managed to recover enough to get out of bed and begin rehabilitation, but he still has a long way to go. His fighting spirit is something his commander would have been proud of." Ozpin announced happily, I felt a smile tug at my face that he was getting better even if his progress was much slower than my own, I didn't even care that Ozpin had spoken his name in public at this point, the news was just too good.

"I thank you for that information headmaster, now excuse me but I need to get back to my team."

"Good Day Mr Alexander, one more thing though: you might want to prepare for Monday, Miss Goodwitch has a special match lined up for your return to the arena." Ozpin said with ominous grin upon his face before he walked off, tapping his cane on the ground in a rhythm as he walked.

I just shook my head, my anger at being snuck up on now forgotten at the news on Kale, I walked down the halls with a smile once more on my face as I headed for the cafeteria for Teal's drink. As I headed into the cafeteria I saw Team CFVY sitting up in a back corner together for breakfast as well as Teams RWBY and JNPR (Minus Jaune) near a window, I deduced that Jaune was likely off spending his weekend doing Team CRDL's work for them, or being a punching bag. I saw Velvet wave covertly towards me, unlike Coco who had stood up and was proceeding to flip the finger at me. I just rolled my eyes at the fashionista and her shameless ego, I honestly did wonder how Velvet didn't die of embarrassment at her captain.

Looking over to Team RWBY, an idea popped into my head and after deciding to not grab Teal's juice just yet. I made my way over towards their table, moving as silently as I could to sneak up on Weiss who along with Ruby had their backs to me. I could see Yang and Nora doing their best to suppress smiles while Ren looked impassive and Blake had her nose in a book, I didn't like voluntarily entering the incognito Faunus' space but I had a job to do.

I got right up behind Weiss and prepared to embarrass _Snowflake_ but before I could I found myself in immobilising glyphs.

"I may have let you live after yesterday Simon, but try to prank me again and I'll put you in a sloth suit and give you to Nora as a present." Weiss warned, not even turning to look at me.

Everyone at the table just stared at the heiress that she'd make such a serious threat while Nora jumped up punching the air "Woo, presents! And it isn't even my birthday." The bubbly bomber sing songed.

I could feel the blood drain from my face as my mind began to picture me as Nora's pet, I didn't see myself living through a single day of that. "Ok, ok…. I get that you're pissed, but I think we can all agree that Yang was to blame." I replied, trying to sound diplomatic.

"Hey, don't you go trying to throw me under the bus again Simon, Weiss used Ruby's knowledge as my sister against me yesterday!" Yang whined, instinctively wrapping her arms protectively over her sides.

I chuckled at the blonde's poor luck for a moment before turning my attention back to Weiss. "_Snowflake, _do you mind speaking with me for a moment? You know… without the restraints?" I asked nicely, actually sounding apologetic.

I could hear Weiss sigh before she stood up and removed the glyphs. "Come on, make this quick." She said as she moved passed me and I fell in to follow her in much the same manner we moved through _White Castle _when I was her bodyguard, though I still saw myself in that role even if I was no longer paid for the position.

Weiss and I exited the cafeteria and I leaned against the wall while Weiss looked at me curiously, also kind of annoyed that I had attempted to prank her yet again. "What is it Simon?" Weiss asked, her voice in her usual annoyed shrill, but I could see the caring in her eyes.

"Well just wondering what you're up to tomorrow? I was wondering if we could hang out in Vale?" I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

Weiss raised an eyebrow "What, no date with Velvet?" Weiss said lightly, a cheeky twinkle in her eyes.

"That's today actually heh." I replied bashfully.

"Oh really, where to?" Weiss asked nonchalantly.

"The Artisan district, there's normally markets down there, we're going to take a look around there then I got no idea." I replied, causing Weiss to facepalm.

"You really, really do suck at planning anything don't you?" Weiss mumbled as she shook her head.

"What can I say? Any plan I do make tends to go to shit anyway, which is why I just followed your plans… ok we're getting off topic here, you free tomorrow?" I asked, not willing to let Weiss start lecturing me on how to plan for a _'proper'_ date.

"I did promise Ruby I'd spend Sunday with her, given that Yang says she is busy that day and Blake will probably off somewhere reading or whatever it is that girl gets up to, she's even more secretive than you are… and that says something." Weiss explained her plans, which complicated my own. It must have told on my face as Weiss looked at me suspiciously.

What's wrong with that? Simon, what are you up to!?" Weiss demanded.

'_She is way too smart for her own good!'_ I thought as I sighed at my friend "Meet me on the roof tonight _Snowflake_, I'll explain then." I replied, realising now that my idea was probably going to piss Weiss off but I'd have to stick with it.

Weiss looked disapprovingly at me, knowing if I wasn't willing to explain it here then I was up to something. "Ok I'll meet you up there about 9, enjoy your date today." Weiss said teasingly before turning on her heel and walking back into the cafeteria.

I just shook my head and made my way back into the cafeteria and grabbed Teal's juice and walked over to Team CFVY. "Morning Velvet, Fox, Yatsuhashi. Velvet. Just wondering what time you wanted to head into Vale?" I asked, ignoring Coco, just to rile her.

Coco evil eyed me before going back to her Coco Pops.

Velvet scratched her ears and thought on the question "Well markets start at 9, so let's get in early and see what's there before the rush starts." Velvet replied in her usually quiet, soft spoken voice, a small smile on her face.

Turning to Coco I gave her a little wink "Don't worry ma'am I'll have her back by dark." I said teasingly to the older girl.

Coco just shook her head "She better be or I'll hit you in the balls with my handbag." The CFVY captain responded protectively, causing me to instinctively wince at the thought.

"Right then, I'll meet you at the landing pad in about an hour ok Velv? I gotta head back to the dorm and make sure the girls know not to kill Nyanza while I'm gone." I said, bidding my farewell from Team CFVY.

Returning to my team's dorm I saw that neither Sienna nor Teal had moved. "Really, did it tire you two out that much to meet Nyanza's family?" I joked, not sure how either would take it, thankfully they just chuckled lightly.

"No, just didn't get much sleep. Kept waking up and well over-thinking." Sienna sighed.

I just nodded, I knew Sienna would be thinking of Pearl. Sighing I sat on my bed "Girls, be honest with me. Are you two ok?" I asked, a pleading look on my face. I'd seen men break from holding everything in and bottling it up, all it achieved was getting people killed.

"We're fine Simon, we promise… we had a talk while you out running, just to clear the air. We'd prefer to handle this just the two of us. We don't need you to be worrying over us Si." Teal replied sipping her drink.

"No offence to you Simon, but this is something best sorted out between the two of us. But if we feel we can't handle this together then you'll be the first person we come to Mon Capitaine." Sienna added on.

I could hear the sincerity in their voices, so they did talk to each other about whatever was on their minds, be it family, classes, the team, me. I knew that both the girls and Nyanza had questions for me, I could see it in their eyes whenever we were together as a team but they'd held their tongues lest I get irritated or snap.

"Ok you two, I gotta get ready to head into Vale. I assume you're going to go fetch Nyanza back from his parents sometime today?" I asked, knowing I'd told him and his family that the girls would be back today.

"We might go by this afternoon, but I think this morning I just wanna sleep. You sure he has to come back today? Can't he stay till tomorrow?" Teal said with a yawn.

"That's because you push yourself to breaking point each day Teal, I know you never get more than 5 hours a night of sleep between your training and studying. It is burning you out very quickly, we've got a field trip this week, and I'm ordering you as your captain to get a full 8 hours each night until then. I won't have you at anything less than 100% in the field, am I understood?" I ordered, making sure she knew I was not to be ignored on this command.

Teal finished her juice and lay back down "Ok Simon, I'll do that…. Just because I don't want you blaming me if anything goes wrong." Teal replied in a smartarsed tone before rolling over to doze off again, enjoying the peace of the Nyanza free dorm.

I shook my head and went to grab some clothes. Settling for a pair of my newer jeans and a jersey of my favourite Atlesian Rugby League team: the Maroon and Gold clad Brisport Broncos and headed for the bathroom to get ready.

I had taken my time to get ready, I normally cared not much for my appearance (except that it be intimidating) but today was an exception and I even took the time to comb my hair down as it had grown from the 2 inch long buzz cut I sported when I arrived at Beacon to having a fringe down to just above my eyebrows. _'I need a haircut before we head into the forever fall'_ I thought, not going to allow myself to have to deal with the pain in the ass that was hair getting clogged with dirt or mud, I honestly didn't know how or even why the girls kept their hair long on missions, I'd drive myself insane doing that.

Eventually I was ready, deciding to not take my staff into Vale today, I instead affixed my gauntlets, flicking the blades out a couple times to make sure the spring actions still functioned properly. Satisfied with my weapons I silently walked out the door, not wanting to wake the sleeping girls but setting my alarm clock to go off at 11am, just to remind them to get up and go into Vale and also because I'm an asshole to sleep.

Walking to the landing pad to catch a bullhead into Vale I saw Velvet with Coco with a few others wanting to make the trip into Vale. Velvet looked absolutely beautiful in a knee length brown skirt, leggings and a modest button up top with her emblem over her heart, complete with a ribbon in her hair that had been put into a bun. I nodded a greeting to Coco before turning to Velvet, but resisted the urge to say anything about her appearance just yet given Velvet's shy personality and the fact we were surrounded by fellow students. Students who must were either dumb as dog shit to not have figured it out or were afraid of the combined wrath of myself and Coco if they said anything.

"Morning Velvet" I greeted happily, waving to my girlfriend.

"Morning Simon. You're looking well today." Velvet complimented shyly, I could almost feel the heat coming off her face, of course we'd spent time together outside of Beacon before, but this was different somehow, personally I blamed Coco's presence.

As if reading my mind Coco smiled "Don't mind me Simon, just going to do a little shopping." She said happily.

'_Of course you are, you little spy.'_ I thought, but didn't voice my accusation lest I cause an incident.

Two bullheads arrived to take students into Vale. The other students boarded one bullhead as a group, so Velvet, Coco and I decided to take the 2nd one. "You know, with the way that Dust prices are rising, you got to wonder sometimes how Ozpin manages to keep these Bullheads running." I pondered aloud.

"Well the Council funds the academy pretty well, given that Huntsmen are the primary defence against Grimm the council pretty much throws money to train more Hunters to keep Grimm out of the city." Coco responded, like she had actually done some research on the subject. I just shrugged in response and held onto the handholds in case we hit turbulence, I still hated flying with a passion.

And of course severe turbulence hit the bullhead as it roared through the sky, tossing the three passengers about like rag dolls. I managed to keep my hold on the ceiling of the bullhead, wrapping one of my arms around Velvet's waist and drawing her close to help keep her steady as the turbulence got even more severe. Next thing I knew there was a flash, Coco had reached for her scroll, even though doing so had caused her to lose her grip when the Bullhead jolted violently and sprawled onto the ground, just to get a shot of Velvet and I together.

"That was stupid Coco, I've seen people die from being tossed around Bullheads and hitting their heads against a bulkhead." I said seriously, I hadn't actually seen this happen but Gregory had several times when working with Carvel's 117th Regiment and Donavon's 6th Noble Company of the _Black Fist_, he said it wasn't at all pretty and I was inclined to believe him.

"Pfft, I know what I was doing, besides this photo is totally worth it. You two look very cute together." Coco teased, unleashing hellfire of teasing upon us now we had a Bullhead to ourselves. I saw Velvet Blush madly.

"Umm, mind showing me that Coco?" Velvet asked timidly.

Coco nodded and offered Velvet the phone. Velvet took it and placed me between her and Coco.

"Oi, what are you doing Velvs?" Coco demanded.

"Oh nothing, wow, this is actually quite a nice photo of us Simon." Velvet said showing me the photo. I was just slightly taller than Velvet's head, though her ears towered over me, smiles on both our faces, even if Velvet looked kind of shy about the hold she was in.

"You look very beautiful in that photo Velvy, you should probably send it to your scroll and delete it off Coco's, you know so it is never used against you." I replied, knowing full well what Coco was like.

"Good idea Simon, just mind keeping Coco away from me for a few more seconds." Velvet said teasingly at her captain who was desperately trying to get her phone back, only for me to lead with the shoulder and charge the fashionista away from me, nearly sending her into a bulkhead if she hadn't been holding onto the handholds.

"For someone who likes to lecture about people dying on bulkheads, you seemed very eager to send me flying into one." Coco complained.

"Your skull is too thick to die, you'd just get some sense and humility knocked into you." I joked, eliciting a laugh from Velvet who tossed Coco her scroll back.

"Thanks for your cooperation Coco, I know you won't have any hard feelings about this." Velvet giggled cheekily.

Both of us went wide eyed at our normally timid friend "Ok, you've been spending way too much time with Simon, you never get so cheeky like this." Coco admonished her friend.

I just shook my head "Bull, You're her captain, she takes after you." I shot back in a humoured tone.

"Umm, you two know I'm right here don't you." Velvet responded from my side.

"We know, just having a bit of fun." I responded.

Before anyone could say anything more, the Bullhead came in for a landing at the Artisan District Air Pad, 1 of several dozen air pads around Vale originally designed to evacuate the populous should Grimm ever take the city, but now form the backbone of the intercity transit system, combining Busses, trams, trains and Bullheads as public transportation.

I stepped off the bullhead, offering my hand to Velvet to help her step down, like a proper gentleman would. _'Heh, I'm acting like one of those rich snobs that always pestered Weiss at balls and galas at White Castle, except of course I'm not a perverted ass._' I thought as Velvet accepted my offer of help.

Coco followed us to the exit and as we went to turn left, she turned right towards the bus stop "I'll see you guys later, I heard there's a sale at my favourite clothing store, can't miss out on that." Coco said happily as she waved goodbye and walked off.

"Where does that girl get so much money for clothes? She rob a bank or something?" I asked Velvet as Coco got out of earshot.

"I've often asked myself that same question on where she gets her Lien, I just gave up trying to figure it out… maybe wealthy family inheritance? She's pretty open about most things, I think she just enjoys watching us squirm with working out how she can afford all the stuff she buys." Velvet replied jokingly.

I resisted to make the snarky, offensive and perverted comment about how _'open' _Coco was that the Snipers or Gregory would surely have made in my position at this time, because I knew Velvet would probably slap me for it. Instead I settled for just laughing lightly and clasping Velvet's hand in my own "Come on, let's go check out those markets for a couple hours then maybe a movie?" I offered, trying to at least put something that resembled a plan for the day together.

"That sounds good, there's a new movie that just came out the other week I've been wanting to see _Lazer Team_. I hear it's pretty good." Velvet said, offering a movie that sounded like something I'd certainly like.

I chuckled at Velvet "Sounds good, at least you aren't going to try to convince me to sit through a chick-flick."

Velvet just rolled her eyes "If I was going to make you watch them I'd just drag you to the Team CFVY dorm, you just can't enjoy a good romance movie in a crowded theatre." Velvet said in a matter-of-factly tone.

I just shrugged "I'll take your word for it then Velvy." I replied as I took out my scroll and went to pre-book some movie tickets.

When I saw the advert for the movie, my face lit up "Oh yes! This is made by the same guys who made Red vs Blue and the animated adaption of the X-ray and Vav comics. Hope these cockbites do as good a job on this then." I laughed humouredly, only to see Velvet with a slightly offended look.

"Cockbites? Really… you're insulting them?" Velvet said indignantly.

"You've not watched Red vs Blue have you?" I asked, Velvet just shook her head lightly. "Ok Well their company is Roosterteeth right? Another name for a rooster is a cock. And you use teeth to bite, thus they are a group of cockbites." I explained, just earning an eye roll from Velvet.

"I swear you and Coco are more alike than you care to admit, maybe not when it comes to fashion or vanity but your senses of humour are just as crude as each other's." Velvet teased, knowing I despised being compared to that vain fashionista.

"You're getting way too good at knowing how to push my buttons for your own good Velvy, now come on there's things to see and people to…" I realised I was saying that phrase in the manner that the snipers or Gregory would, and I managed to cut myself off before I said something really crude.

Velvet looked at me and shook her head humouredly "I'm just going to pretend you didn't nearly say what you were about to." She said happily as she walked off towards the markets a couple blocks away, me quickly following.

The markets were quite nice actually, artisans of all types showing off hand crafted sculptures or woven fabrics, clothes. Even Blacksmiths and Gunsmiths displaying various guns, swords, ammo and other weapon related things. Though Velvet went straight for the weavers and seamstresses to look at clothing, knitting and other stuff, for her mother I imagined, I remember Satin Scarlatina having made quite the hobby out of knitting and sewing clothing and quilts and the like. Though Velvet might have taken after her mother in choice of hobbies, I didn't know.

There was a crafter next to the stall Velvet was at now so I took a look at what he had to offer. I saw carved wooden clocks, toys, figures, furniture and garden ornaments all made out of high quality dark oaks. I admired the craftsmanship required to create such intricate things, as I used a blade to carve a Grimm or a human or a Faunus, this man in the back of the stall whittling an Ursa figure used blades to create works of art, though I considered what I did to be art in a way, the right angle to cleave clean through a torso and not break my blades or get them lodged into bone, to move my feet by instinct to either dance around or trample over an opponent. Picking up a figure, this one of a Deathstalker a little bigger than my palm, I could see the patterns and battle scars etched into its head in such detail, it did impress me enough to reach for some Lien in my pocket and tap on the counter to get the craftsman's attention.

"I'll take one of each type of Grimm if you got them." I asked politely of the crafter.

The crafter looked me up and down and smirked when he saw the gauntlets on my wrists. "I do hope you won't cut my Grimm like you do real ones, I'd hate to see some of my best work wasted." The man joked.

"Heh, I'll try to resist the urge to sir." I responded with a laugh as I was handed a bag with several boxes within, containing my newfound possessions. I handed the man the 75 Lien he was owed and I walked up behind Velvet who was engrossed in looking at a handmade dress. I leaned over and lightly blew into her human ear, causing the girl to seize up and turn to look at me, a massive cheeky grin on my face.

"You know, I really just can't get mad at you when you grin like that, you look like a guilty child." Velvet laughed as she placed the dress back down, having already gotten two bags worth of stuff while I'd been at the crafter's stall.

"Heh, I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult right now. What you got there?" I asked, pointing to the bags.

"Just some yarn and stuff for mum as well as a set of handmade gloves and ear muffs, my Faunus set suffer really bad during winter, especially at night." Velvet explained. "What did you find?" She asked about what I had bought.

"Just some Grimm carvings I fancied…. What in actual hell?" I said, stopping mid-sentence as through the middle of the street a bunch of joggers were running through the markets, except these joggers were all dressed up as gorillas and were making absolute monkeys of themselves.

I saw Velvet giggling them and I thought of something funny. "Here hold this." I said as I handed Velvet my bag and I charged headlong in front of the largest of the costumed runners and started beating my chest and sizing myself up to him. The costumed runner looked confused for a moment but caught on and started jumping around and beating his chest as well. This continued for a good 30 seconds until we were right in each other's faces making animal noises and beating our chests.

Then the Gorilla dressed runner backed off and knelt down in mock surrender before running after his long gone friends exaggerating his run to make him look fearful of me. I just laughed and waved goodbye to the gorilla man. I looked to Velvet who was giggling like a child. I just walked over to Velvet and blew a kiss at her before taking back my bag of carvings from the now blushing Faunus girl "Well that was fun, I think I scared him."

"Yeah, I'm sure he was so terrified of you." Velvet giggled sarcastically.

"Ah well, so long as CRDL fears me then I don't care if everyone else sees me for the big softy I' am sometimes." I responded.

Velvet looked at me slightly disapprovingly as we walked to another part of the markets to see what else was around. "You really shouldn't bully them, even if they themselves are bullies." Velvet admonished me.

"I know, but sometimes you just got to put people like them in their place and show them firsthand how much they hurt others." I responded, hoping to avoid an argument over this… even though I knew Velvet was probably right.

"Maybe, just try to go easy on them anyway." Velvet said pleadingly.

"Ok Velvy, I'll try to go easy on CRDL, just for you." I said happily as I looked around, trying to see something else that would catch my eye.

I saw a merchant selling handmade leather coats next to a woman selling fur felt hats. Walking over I picked up one of the hats, it was a creamy colour with a brown leather cord around it, a lock of horse tail hair attached to the cord. Running my hands around the bends, the fur was soft and smooth and firm. Placing it on my head and looking in a nearby mirror it fit well and looked quite good on me.

The attendant moved towards me "I see you've taken a fancy to the cattleman variety of hats, these will last 50 years if cared for well and are made out of the finest Rabbit Fur Felts." The attendant explained to me, hearing that these were made out of rabbit furs, I just put the hat down and walked off without another word, I could only think of someone skinning Velvet's ears for the fur felt. It made me feel sick at the thought of someone doing that.

I found Velvet looking at a stall of baked goods, I could see she was eyeing off a carrot cake topped with cream. Smirking I pulled out a few Lien and put them on the counter, enough for a couple slices of the carrot cake as well as a bag of triple chocolate cookies and some fudge.

"I can guess you noticed I was admiring the cake but what are the cookies and fudge for?" Velvet asked confused.

"Fudge is for SNST and the Cookies, for Ruby an apology bribe." I answered as I took the bag of treats and took Velvet's hand in my own and walked off to find somewhere to sit down to eat the cake.

"Hey Simon, how many people from… from your old life are in Vale at this very moment? Apart from Levi." Velvet asked as we sat down at a small bench towards the end of the Marketplace.

"There's three that I know of. I can't say anything about them, not even their names…. Nothing that will endanger you, them or myself. Please understand that Velvet." I said, not really wanting to discuss this here of all places.

Velvet pouted slightly but nodded "Ok. I talked to my parents last night, they and everyone else in town is ecstatic that you're coming home, They wanted to throw you a massive street party, but I managed to convince them to keep it low key and private… I didn't think you'd be able to handle such festivities." Velvet explained, too which I felt relief. I had been worried the people of Exton would go overboard, but thanks to the ever thoughtful Velvet I no longer had to deal with that fear.

"Thanks Velvy, it's great to have you looking out for me like that." I said beaming a thankful smile at a now blushing Faunus girl.

"Don't mention it, I don't think I'd have fared too well either. Whenever the anniversary of the attack on your family came around you'd always see apathetic councillors and activists trying to take advantage of what happened, it really did become a challenge to not just snap and give them a piece of my mind, and I'm sure those same selfish people would be there if this became a big event trying to make you endorse their side of the story." Velvet said, slightly angrily.

I nodded understandingly and reached forward and squeezed Velvet's hand. "Thanks, you really are amazing Velvet." I smiled, I could see Velvet go bright red again and she didn't seem to mind that we were out in public and acting like a couple. I guess because here we were just two anonymous teenagers rather than well-known faces at Beacon.

We sat in silence eating the cake I'd bought for several moments, enjoying the crisp autumn morning. It was then that I got a text. It was from Shauno, I didn't know whether or not to open it, given the potentially perverted contents, though upon seeing the message was actually forwarded to me by Shauno from Gregory I decided to open it. It was a photo, a photo of Velvet and I sitting in this very spot with our hands clasped, there was also messages from both Gregory and Shauno with contributions from Kale.

_Gregory: Sorry I can't come and say hello, on the hunt for Levi. He was following you and your team last night so I'm making sure he doesn't come back for you today. She seems to be a very lovely girl and you look like a great match, treat her well and for the love of everything keep her away from Levi. –Gregory Ilan Volker._

_Shauno: Hey Buddy! I see you got yourself a sexy Faunus lady. We didn't think you'd swing that way after, well after everything but hey if that's what you're into then Kale and I are happy for you. Just remember to wear protection: Kale and I aren't ready to be uncles, but when we are we're going to teach the brood how to shoot and drink and get up to all sorts of mischief. You gotta introduce us sometime after Kale gets out of the medical bay. I gotta get some sleep, that Head Hunter guy Auburn smuggled Kale and I a bottle of whiskey but forgot anything to mix it with so we just drank it straight and I'm so damned hungover right now. Cya Buddy, have fun with her, but not too much ;)_

My first reaction was to quickly whip my head around, scanning for Gregory or _Minder-27 _in the crowds of people, or worse yet for Levi. After about a minute of being zoned out and entirely focused on scanning faces and bodies that I was startled when Velvet tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention, a look of worry on her face. "Simon, what just happened? You got that message and then you totally zoned out." My girlfriend said concernedly.

"I'm fine, just a message from a friend of mine…. He says Levi followed my team and I yesterday to Nyanza's family's business and I just had to scan to make sure he wasn't here. And before you freak out: He isn't anywhere that I can see, and I know Levi too well for him to be able to hide in a crowd from me." I said reassuringly, though I don't know how believable my lie was. Levi could be 20m from where we were sitting and I'd not have the slightest clue right now.

Velvet nodded slowly, obviously not convinced "Is it still safe in Vale?" She asked, herself now looking around.

"In public, in broad daylight like this we're perfectly safe. Levi has no intention of getting caught out like that, so long as we're back at Beacon by dark we're perfectly safe." I replied facing Velvet, a protective and determined look on my face. Velvet seemed to calm, but I could feel her aura of apprehension.

I finished my cake and disposed of the container before turning to Velvet "And not only that, I got a guardian watching over me, the friend that alerted me is stalking Levi, if he comes anywhere near us then we'll know well before he gets a chance to strike." I reassured my nervous girlfriend, who seemed to take this attempt at settling her nerves much better than my last attempts.

"Ok, if you say we're safe then I believe and trust you." Velvet said as she finished her cake and stood, clasping her hand in mine, I noticed her squeezing more tightly than before.

We walked around, window shopping for a good hour, ending up buying some movies and Dust supplies, as well as ammo for my sniper rifle. It was getting close to the time for the movie, we'd gotten into the cinema just as the trailers were running, a few minutes before show time. I found us a pair of seats towards the back but against a wall, Velvet sat against the wall and I the aisle. Call me paranoid but I preferred to keep myself between Velvet and any potential Levi's in the theatre. But any anxiety I did feel melted away as Velvet leaned her head against my shoulder, he furry ears brushing against the back of my neck, giving me tingles up and down my spine. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and relaxed into my chair, feeling years of stress and tension melt away in that embrace. I honestly don't remember much of the movie, or even if it was even a good movie. All I remember is sitting there without a single care or worry in the world in the warm, loving embrace of Velvet.

**Sunset, Vale. Velvet's PoV:**

It had been a wonderful day, even if Simon did fall asleep in the theatre, He'd never admit it but I guessed he just felt the exhaustion of life bearing down on him and he just wanted to make the most of having me there. Looking at him beside me, he looked calmer, his scars less inflamed and less visible than usual and his eyes actually looked at me when he spoke, whereas most of the time he always had his eyes darting looking for danger, or the metaphorical (or literal) knife in the back and it was good to see him trust people enough to not always fear imminent betrayal.

It was getting near sunset and I remembered what Simon had said about Levi, and I could feel myself walking just a little faster towards the landing pad. But I kept a smile on my face, it was genuine, not forced. It had been the first real 'date' I'd ever been on and I couldn't have wished for a better day to have or company to spend it with. Looking towards the landing pad I saw Coco, laden with several shopping bags, looking most happy with herself.

Simon eyed my captain off suspiciously. "What have you done and I hope you disposed of the evidence properly." He joked, followed by a yawn.

Coco smirked "Velvy, you tired him out…. Guess he needs to work on his stamina." Coco said in a most suggestive tone, I felt my face flush and the sudden urge to rabbit kick Coco. Looking over to Simon he had a confused look on his face, he didn't know whether to be insulted more at the joke itself or its insinuation. Instead he just stood there with a mild stutter.

"Wow, Velvet, you've broken hi-ow" Coco was interrupted mid insult by me clipping my captain around the ears with her beret.

"Coco, behave…. You're in public being entirely inappropriate." I scolded, I might not like bringing attention to myself from strangers but over the last year of knowing Coco I'd become very adept at keeping her ego and vulgar tongue in check, most of the time anyway.

At this Simon just lost it. "Do it again Velvet, I could never get tired of seeing Coco's fashion accessories used against her." He laughed as the bullhead home roared overhead and landed on the pad, discharging a group of students who were spending Saturday night out on the town, probably 3rd or 4th years who are legal age to go clubbing and the like. We passed them in silence and boarded the VTOL to head back to Beacon. I could see Simon shaking lightly, he really didn't like flying. So I made the decision that on the way back to Exton we're taking the bus, not a Bullhead, no need to make him more uncomfortable than he already would be.

Coco had sat herself down in a corner and was rummaging through her various bags, eventually finding a new scarf and wrapping it around her neck. I just rolled my eyes at my captain, she was like a big sister too me but I wondered if it was necessary for over 60% of our dorm's storage space to be taken up by Coco's clothes and other fashion items.

The ride back to Beacon was uneventful, Simon was mostly quiet, making a few jokes or comments when Coco tried to verbally joust him and he'd make a few comments to me about various things, when we saw Beacon come into sight he made an audible sigh of relief, which caused Coco to look curiously at him, the question on her tongue but a look from me halted her interrogation before it could begin.

We stepped off the Bullhead and Coco walked ahead, it was just going dark and the lamps around Beacon just flickering on. Not a single student was out except for us. Simon smirked at me "I hope you enjoyed your day, I guess I probably should go make sure my team hasn't gotten up to too much trouble without the responsible one around?" Simon joked as he picked up his bags.

I just giggled and rolled my eyes, knowing full well that Simon was probably the least responsible of SNST during their free time. Simon and I walked towards the dorm buildings in contented silence, our hands clasped together. I no longer cared who saw, I had no reason for embarrassment or to be shy over this. We got to where our paths separated and Simon leaned in and kissed me on the cheek before giving me a hug.

"Thanks for today Velvy, this was by far the most relaxing day I've had in a long, long time and it will be one I always remember." He said with utmost sincerity.

I blushed and smiled back "For someone who prides themselves on being gruff and regimented, you sure are a smooth talker sometimes." I joked, Simon just laughed and turned on his heel to walk away, waving as he did. I turned the other way and headed towards the certain interrogation conducted by Fox and Coco about our date.

**That night, Beacon Dorm roof. Simon's PoV: **

I had gotten to the roof a few minutes early to prepare myself for the almost certain shit storm I was about to unleash with _Snowflake_. I was pacing, not nervously or anxiously but just because I had an excess of energy, Teal and Sienna hadn't returned back yet, nor had Nyanza, a slight niggling thought in the back of my mind feared that Levi had them but I hoped that the threat of lurking agents would deter him.

I heard the dainty footsteps of Weiss behind me, she sounded rushed by the speed of her steps. "Hey Simon, I'm sorry I'm late. Ruby was most insistent on me watching a movie with her this afternoon after duelling practice." Weiss explained, causing me to chuckle. "What, what is so funny?" Weiss demanded to know.

"Sounds like quite a date you had today, movies and fighting." I teased, much to the chagrin of my best friend.

"It was NOT a date Simon, I merely am helping my socially awkward partner become more adept at socialising." Weiss countered swiftly.

"Ok, if you say so _Snowflake_. About tomorrow, I need you to escort me to meet one of my old friends, the Cipher agent I told you about." I said bluntly, deciding no use in trying to tread easily around the hard questions and favours I was asking.

Weiss immediately looked disapprovingly at me. "Didn't I specifically ask you to 1/ not involve myself, Ruby or anyone else in your personal affairs and 2/ to not chase after the ghost of your commander, I know this is about him, the timing is too much to be coincidence." Weiss stated, once again proving just how she was way too smart for her own good.

I sighed "Yes you did ask those things of me, but this is important. I just know it is. And I promise neither you nor Ruby will be in any danger, I swear my life upon it." I said defiantly.

Weiss rubbed the bridge of her nose in thought. "I'll hold you to that… If I think there's any danger I pull the plug and you're coming with us, you're under my supervision tomorrow remember and if you get up to no good then it's me who Ozpin will be mad at." Weiss compromised, but still sounding most disapproving.

"Thanks Weiss, I even got Ruby some chocolate cookies to keep her happy and occupied when I slip away." I added on before turning towards the door. "Well I'd better not hold you up too much from your dolt for too much longer." I joked, causing Weiss to just shake her head in annoyance.

"I'll meet you at the landing pad with Ruby about 10am tomorrow. Goodnight Simon." Weiss said before departing, obviously not happy with me at all for not only dragging her but her partner into this cloak and dagger stuff. I didn't blame her one bit for her disapproval and anger at my idea, but Ozpin's restrictions forced my hand and Weiss was the only person I trusted with this.

**The Next Day, Vale. Simon's PoV:**

I once again found myself in Vale, though this time instead of a date it was to meet Gregory whom I'd organised this meet with last night before my team arrived back from Vale, this time with Nyanza in tow. Ruby was honestly acting like a schoolgirl (which she technically was, but like an even younger one right now), constantly looking through every shop window on the way to where I had to meet Gregory at his safe house while munching on the cookies I'd bought for the red reaper.

I could see that Weiss was very annoyed at this whole situation, but nonetheless kept a level head not just with me, but also with Ruby. It spoke volumes of how much Weiss had chilled out while at Beacon, if this was _White Castle_ then she'd have snapped and angrily lashed out verbally long ago.

I saw Gregory at the next corner momentarily before he disappeared around the corner towards his safe house, it was the agreed upon signal for me to ditch the girls and sneak off to meet him. Turning to Weiss with a twinkle in my eye before turning to Ruby "Hey Rubes, there's a small weapons dealer just ahead with a sale on, maybe you should take Weiss to check it out?" I suggested to the instantly enthralled reaper who grabbed a now shocked Weiss by the hand and dragged her ahead and into the weapons shop, I knew Ruby would be a while in there so I just jogged ahead and around the corner to Gregory's safe house. Gaining entry via the retinal scanner.

Gregory was inside, having already set up the CCT link to Sanderson. "Ahh Simon, you managed to lose the _Ice Queen_ and she who melts the ice?" Gregory joked, having probably observed the interactions of Ruby and Weiss during the transit from the air pad to here.

"Funny Gregory, just be thankful that Weiss was too busy with her partner to notice you trailing way too close." I shot back with a barbed tone.

"Oi, both of you stow it for now. I only got a little bit of time until I need to go. I got one of Ty's former officers here in Atlas, he couldn't make it to this call but he is here and ready to work with us. Without Ty, we'll be forwarding backup copies of any Intel we find from my hacker friends decrypting the flash stick that Ty had sent to me to you Simon and you'll be our go to guy for a 2nd opinion what we do turn up. But I need you to do something for me that could go a long way to helping us catch the bastards who killed Ty." Sanderson said, instantly making me lean closer to the hologram, eager for my instructions.

"Gregory, I need you to check through your contacts in _Intelligence_ and try to identify any hunters or suspected hunter trained rogues entering Vale from Vacuo as well as anything you can find on _Black Fist_ activities in Vacuo. I personally suspect that the _Fist_ is tied to this group somehow… both were made up of primarily ex-Atlesian military soldiers and officers and Silver has heard rumours that several of the dead that the Vacuan militia killed were wanted for desertion from the _Atlesian Military_ to the _Fist_." Sanderson ordered, his voice authoritative as though he'd stepped back into the military once more.

"Simon, I want you to get better and be ready to strike at the _Fist_ whenever you can…. See if you can't find anything out from the _Fist_ in Vale about their activities in Vacuo, it isn't a certainty that the groups are connected but the _Fang_ certainly isn't involved in this one, almost all the corpses of the dead left at _Brimstone_ were human." Sanderson explained, which made sense to me.

"I got to go, one more thing: It's damned good to see you Simon. Sanderson out." David farewelled before cutting the connection.

I turned to Gregory "He seems to be extremely stressed, I hope he can handle this." I said, concerned for the old NCO.

"He'll be fine I'm sure Simon, now I'd offer you a drink but you really need to go…. Can't risk you being seen leaving here by your friends. I'll contact you when I can get you off this damned escort restriction." Gregory said as he led me to the door, checking to make sure my friends were out of sight before lightly shoving me out of the door and onto the street. I'd done all I can for now, most of the heavy and dangerous work for now was up to Sanderson and Gregory, I just hoped I'd be able to assist in some way at some point in time in a real meaningful manner. But until then I had a morning to spend annoying Weiss, which was something going my way. I speed walked across the road in order to re-join my friends.

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed this 1 year anniversary chapter, because I certainly enjoyed writing it. This will probably be my last upload for a few weeks as I got a large part of my university assessment coming up in the next 3-4 weeks and I'll be very busy, I hope you'll understand if I go a few weeks without an upload. And I also apologise if the last two sections seem quite rushed. Please **Review, Follow and/or Favourite** if you enjoyed what you've read so far, I always love reading and replying to your reviews. –CC Signing off.


	46. Forever Falling

**A/N: **Hi all, CC back again. We're only a few more weeks out till RWBY Volume 3 and I'am super excited…. Like Nora after drinking energy drinks excited :D

Also, I'd like to apologise for taking far too long to get this chapter out to you and I'm glad you all were very patient in waiting: It's been a busy semester and I've had a lot of assignments due, on top of that I've been having a few personal issues that have drained me of motivation to write. But I just kept moving forward and I managed to get you guys a new chapter out, hope you guys and girls enjoy Chapter 45 of _From Hunted to Hunter_.

**Chapter 45: Forever Falling. Monday Week 9. Simon's PoV:**

I awoke at 5am, I had adrenaline already in my system. Today was the day I stepped back into the arena, It had been a slow and mostly lazy two weeks so I was hoping for an easy match as I knew I'd lost a bit of conditioning due to my absence from the combat arena and found an extra couple of kilos, mostly thanks to the abundance of food served to us by Nyanza's family.

Slipping silently out of bed I grabbed slipped into the bathroom to change into my exercise gear, I had to work the adrenaline out of my system and calm my pre-match jitters lest I not be able to focus in the arena. Exiting my dorm I moved swiftly and silently through the dorms, lest I wake up any irate teenagers, and considering they all had lethal weapons it would best to not awake them from their beauty sleep.

Exiting the dorm I saw the sun hadn't risen yet, heading into autumn the sun wouldn't be out until nearly 5:30-6am. So I ran along the lamp lit paths, enjoying the chill of the autumn air and the darkness. The cold and the intermittently broken darkness reminded me of many missions in Atlas, running through the dark, dodging bullets and explosions in the dead of night in the cold, nothing to guide my vision except the flickering lights of muzzle flashes and explosions and the distant yelling of Ty, Sanderson, Lachlan and the other members of _Rum Squad_. I kept jogging, feeling the adrenaline in my system growing less and less as I exerted more energy, both physically and mentally.

Before I knew it, I'd been jogging for well over 40 minutes when I arrived at the Beacon Cliffs, overlooking the forest where our initiation was conducted, the sun was just beginning to rise. I had to admit, it made for a spectacular view, I never did get the chance to just sit and admire the scenery as much as I'd like to. I knew I was slacking off from my run to just sit here and watch the sun bring in a new day, but to hell with it, I really just wanted to enjoy the scenery for once.

I lost track of time staring off into the distance, thinking of absolutely nothing. Looking down to my scroll I saw it was already 6:15, I'd been staring off into nothingness for over half an hour, and I didn't feel guilty in the slightest, I actually felt kinda relaxed and happy at the moment of peace I'd found. Standing up I continued to jog, whistling a happy tune as I did. Getting back towards the dorm buildings I saw Pyrrha in a small grassy area, fully armoured and moving gracefully, flourishing and parrying and striking with her weapons while moving fluidly through ducks and weaves, an overall graceful combat form, much smoother and more graceful than even Weiss' dust manipulation. It was no wonder that she and the indestructible brawler Yang were the only ones undefeated in combat class (though for totally different reasons: Yang was an absolute indestructible tank whom only got stronger the more you hit her: Trust me, I found out the hard way), every first year student couldn't wait for them to face off in the arena. I jogged past Pyrrha who flourished her sword and thrust it in my direction, a competitive smirk on her face, one warrior greeting another. I just raised my hand to my head in a casual salute and kept on jogging, leaving Pyrrha to her morning exercises.

I continued jogging around the campus until about 7 before marching back up to the dorms, entering to see my team all sitting in their beds, even Teal had taken a morning off from training. "Good morning mon Capitaine, enjoy your run?" Nyanza said cheerfully, far too cheerfully for my liking.

"Ok Nyanza, what did you break?" I asked suspiciously, really hoping that my teammate hadn't managed to screw up a seemingly good start to the day.

"Nah, just in a good mood today after having seen my parents Mon Capitaine, and cause I'm looking forward to seeing you kick some ass today in combat class. It just isn't as interesting without your shameless dirty tactics and multi-lingual expletive ridden rants in the middle of a fight." Nyanza said with a laugh.

"Nyanza, if you begin to lecture me on not using dirty moves in combat I will staple your mouth shut with my weapon's ballistic flechettes." I warned humouredly.

Nyanza chuckled nervously, knowing he was not one to lecture on language during a fight given that he still taunts everyone he fought in combat class, often resulting in some very heated discussions afterwards if he said something particularly hurtful, though nothing as worse as what he had said to Teal about her family in the first few weeks we'd been at Beacon.

"I'm sure Nyanza wasn't going to, though Teal and I would wish you'd show a little more respect to your opponents, the way you act in the arena reflects badly upon all four of us" Sienna lectured, causing me to groan in frustration and in turned caused the girls to laugh.

"Why is it you guys only come together when it's to take the piss out of me?" I asked through my face palm.

"Because you're our leader and it is immense fun to see you get burnt." Teal teased as she brushed her hair on her bed.

"You really wanna see me get burnt, you should see me in a fight against Gregory" I mumbled under my breath, then chuckling. My team looked at me like I was a lunatic for a moment, before shaking their heads collectively.

"Well if you three are finished being nuisances, I suggest we actually get ready for the day, I'm going down to the forges to do some fine tuning before class, we got combat class first up so I need everything in working order, so I'll see you guys at the arena." I said neutrally as I grabbed up my weapon and combat uniform, content to change in the showers of the locker rooms before combat class.

**Combat Class, Simon's PoV: **

After a boring 90 minutes in the forges (No Ruby to keep me company this time around) I was the first to arrive in the combat arena, even before Goodwitch. My weapons were now in the best working order I'd had them in since arriving at beacon, even sharpening all of my blades and polishing them to give them an intimidating glint. Checking over my webbing to ensure my pouches of grenades (a mix of fragmentation, smoke and flash bangs) were secured and I had a full bandolier of magazines of flechettes for my gun staff I took a seat towards the back and worked on adjusting the buckles and straps on my webbing, trying to get comfortable. I had to admit I was nervous for today, my back felt kinda stiff and the slash (now a prominent scar across my back) was pulsing in a dull pain, my joints were creaking as I moved and my stomach was doing summersaults in anticipation to get into the arena.

I watched the rest of the first years file in, I could feel their eyes on me, all eager to see who gets to be my latest opponent would be. I leaned against a pillar in the back of the stands, to jittery to be able to sit down. I saw my team make their way up to me.

"You sure look excited." Sienna commented as she sat down in the back row, closest to me.

"More like scarred shitless, Two weeks out of action is a long time, I'm going to really need to kick it up a notch to win this." I replied, perfectly aware I was going to be at a severe disadvantage.

Once the class was settled Goodwitch made her way into the middle of the arena "Ok, The first match for today shall be: Simon Alexander against Pyrrha Nikos. Combatants, please make your way to the arena.

My jaw all but hit the ground as I pushed myself off of the pillar and began walking down, I could hear the usual murmur of students making predictions and bets on the match, I also heard My team up the back cheering me on as I got to the bottom and entered the arena, keeping to the far end I withdrew my gun staff and racked the bolt to ensure the flechettes were ready to fire, once I was satisfied with my weapon I extended the blades and flourished it with several twirls around my waist and over my head before settling into a sprinter start position, my staff held diagonally across my back by my dominant left hand. I carefully watched Pyrrha who was set into her starting stance: kneeling with her shield protecting her torso and her sword held high ready to thrust downwards at me. There was that same competitive smirk on her face that at the same time was completely disarming in its sincere joyfulness.

Goodwitch signalled for the battle to start and I took off at a sprint. I saw Pyrrha smirk and then charged in to meet me. I beared the forward blade of my weapon and thrust it forward like a pike. Pyrrha batted it aside with her shield and went to strike at me with her sword, I rolled to dodge, launching a sweeping kick at Pyrrha's legs as I came out of the roll. The Bronze Clad Spartan leapt over the strike and retaliated by throwing her shield at me like a boomerang which struck me I managed to block with my armoured gauntlets, however this unexpected manoeuvre from Pyrrha put me on the back foot and she pressed her advantage, charging me with her sword and retrieving her shield to strike and parry at me from several different directions at lightning speed before breaking through my defensive parrying with my staff, pinning it with her shield then launching an elbow into my face, followed up by a strike with the hilt of her sword.

This sent me reeling back, nearly dropping my staff. I managed to get upright again, feeling very sore and sorry for myself being against arguably the top fighter in all of Beacon. I readied myself and smiled, motioning for Pyrrha to come at me. I stood ready as Pyrrha charged in and our weapons clanged together. I parried with a clockwise movement of my staff and as the movement approached the 6 O'clock position I drew my staff back, knocking Pyrrha off balance, allowing me to strike hard with the rear blade of _Umbra Vigilans_ in a horizontal slash while Pyrrha's blade was out of position and her sword hand side was exposed. The blade of my staff made contact in the side of Pyrrha's ribcage, rattling her visibly and her Aura drained slightly.

Smirking I pushed forward, seizing the initiative to launch a downward strike at Pyrrha's head with the forward blade, Pyrrha managed to block the strike with her shield but was caught by my armoured boot slamming into her knee, sending the Spartan reeling backwards, red hair billowing over her face. I charged forward and executed a sweeping slash at Pyrrha's face, only for Pyrrha to dodge it by mere millimetres. I used the momentum from the slash to launch immediately into a spinning kick at Pyrrha's knees, once again I missed with the armoured boots I wore by mere millimetres. By now Pyrrha had recomposed herself and her sword turned into a rifle as she started taking shots at me, using her shield as a brace. Realising my initiative was lost I reached and grabbed for a smoke grenade (Red coloured, much like Pyrrha's hair) and dropped it at my feet. As the Red smoke filled the arena I retreated beyond the blood red veil I'd created and circled Pyrrha who unlike I did not have thermal imaging goggles to see through the smoke.

'_Thank-you a million times over for these Gregory'_ I thought as I got in behind Pyrrha and charged in with a shoulder charge into the Spartan's back, causing her to stumble forward, surprised at my sudden assault, I followed up with a stabbing attack, once again into her back before she could recover, Pyrrha fumbled forward, caught off guard and off balance, her sword fumbling out of her hands and to the ground. I stormed forward and punt kicked Pyrrha in the side, causing the Spartan to double over, wheezing from the armoured boot launching into her ribcage. I could hear murmurs from among the crowd, no one before had gotten one up on Pyrrha, but of course no one else in our class had the advantage of military grade thermal goggles and smoke grenades as I did. Pyrrha scrambled for her sword and then did several backflips to put distance between her and I, I wasn't able to swoop in quick enough to assault her again due to my knee, no matter how long I had that semi-artificial knee in for I'll always be slower and less agile than I once was, less so than most of my classmates, especially the acrobatic and flexible like Pyrrha Nikos, who stood panting at the far end of the arena, her competitive smirk slightly dimmed, her eyes now more focused and less casual, she was actually taking me seriously.

I flourished my gun staff and motioned for her to give me her best shot. Pyrrha nodded wordlessly at me before charging, her rifle discharging at me before she reached me and it changed back into its sword mode, Pyrrha moved quick as lightning blocking my stabbing strike with her sword before smacking me in the head with her shield, all followed up by her vaulting up over my head and landing behind me to cut at me with her sword across my back in much the same direction as the _white Fang_ soldier had weeks ago.

She went to finish with a low kick at my legs, but I blocked it with my staff. We looked at each other, both of us with competitive glares on our faces as she retracted her leg and attempted to swing her sword at me, I managed to block it with my left arm's armoured gauntlet while stabbing at her chest with my staff with my right hand as if it was a pike. Pyrrha hadn't expected this strike and hit struck her right in the abdomen. I retracted my staff and struck out again, this time at her legs, but the strike missed by millimetres, but Pyrrha did not move. This surprised me enough to be caught off guard as Pyrrha booted me in the head which sent me flying across the arena. I rolled to my left and got up groggily, already with Pyrrha charging me, cutting, slashing and stabbing at me with her sword while keeping my staff pinned to my side using her shield. I decided to go for broke and dropped my staff to free up my right hand and as Pyrrha went to strike at me I grabbed her sword hand with one hand and latched onto her shield with the other in a desperate attempt to halt her momentum, because once she got into a rhythm, there was no stopping Pyrrha.

Pyrrha was about 4 inches taller than me, which gave her an edge at trying to out manoeuvre me in this battle of strength and leverage. But unlike her I used any advantage I could, our faces were mere inches from each other as Pyrrha began trying to push me inch by inch to the ground, but I used the lack of distance to my advantage and slammed my armoured helmet into the bridge of her nose, Pyrrha immediately reeled back, her grip on her weapons slipping, allowing me to disarm her and throw her sword and shield to the far side of the arena behind me. Grabbing up my staff I charged at Pyrrha who was still doubled over, her hands to her face. I slammed my knee up into her already damaged face, it was bleeding, but her nose wasn't broken from what I could see. The strike made her go upright as I rolled behind her and jammed my staff into her throat horizontally and yanked back on it, effectively using my battle staff as a garrotte. Pyrrha was wheezing and trying to wrest my staff from my grip so she could breathe, I was barely able to keep my grip as Pyrrha began using her superior height to try and loosen the grip I had on her throat, cutting off her air supply.

This went on for well over 30 seconds, Pyrrha was beginning to turn blue from lack of air when she reached back and got a grip on my forearms, using that grip to then roll forward and flip me over her head and across the arena once more. I landed on my feet and skidded to a stop, immediately turning my staff into its gun mode and unleashing volleys of deadly metal flechettes at Pyrrha as she caught her breath and scrambled to get to her weapons, but knowing she still had to get past me to do so. Everyone was watching intently as no one before had knocked Pyrrha around so badly. Pyrrha ran full tilt at me, flechettes tinging off her armour or being absorbed by her aura as she closed the distance and began boxing me, throwing several punches, striking me as she moved too quick for me to get my staff into position to block. I swept at her legs with my staff's forward blade only for Pyrrha to jump the strike and simultaneously kick me in the side of the head, sending me reeling and giving the Spartan time to get her weapons. We were both exhausted and with our auras severely depleted, this was the first time Pyrrha's had ever gotten below 75% before in a match. We stood there, facing each other down while catching our breath, our classmates cheering us on.

I hefted my staff and placed a fresh magazine of flechettes into the staff, moving slowly and somewhat gingerly, my ears ringing from the boot to the head I'd just taken earlier, whereas Pyrrha still had blood running out her nose and a puffed up cheek. She did not look impressed at me for ambushing her like that. She moved first, her weapon in its Javelin form being thrown at me, I didn't have time to dodge properly, the weapon still impacting heavily in my dominant left shoulder. Pyrrha was already upon me with her weapon back in her hand and it its sword form to stab at me. I retaliated with a sweeping strike, using my semblance to slow the strike down and as I did I saw something that explained how Pyrrha kept dodging my attacks. I saw the metallic blades momentarily glow and their path veer ever so slightly away from Pyrrha, not enough for me to notice easily but enough for my strikes to miss. I immediately disengaged and put several metres between Pyrrha and me.

I knew Pyrrha's little secret, why she seemed so _untouchable_, she could repel metallic weapons away from her, putting her at a huge advantage over all other competitors. I understood why Pyrrha kept it a secret, and I wasn't about to go blabbing about it to everyone, I did have some honour and discretion. Instead I charged back in as though I hadn't learnt anything about her semblance, attacking at her arms and legs, trying to throw the Spartan off balance, but as I knew they would my strikes all missed narrowly as Pyrrha dodged them or used her semblance to make well timed strikes to miss. Pyrrha dodged a stabbing strike at her abdomen and got in beside me, slamming the hilt/stock end of her weapon into my throat, making me gag as the air was momentarily cut off from my lungs. Pyrrha then grabbed my weapon out of my weakened grasp and threw it away. I managed to roll away and extend my gauntlet blades, knowing they would not do too much good against Pyrrha's semblance, but I was not about to roll over and lose the match. I taunted Pyrrha to charge me, assuming a boxer's stance, my blades glinting in the light of the arena. Pyrrha charged, shield by her side and her sword trailing slightly behind her, ready to immediately strike. As Pyrrha got in my face and struck out with a stabbing motion I blocked it with one blade and used my other arm to elbow Pyrrha's still bleeding nose. I followed up with a spinning kick to Pyrrha's knee, only for it to be blocked by the Spartan's shield. Pyrrha then slammed the hilt of her sword onto my semi-artificial knee, I immediately felt immense pain ripple up my leg, even though I had an armoured guard over it, the force and angle of the strike left my leg in pain to the point I couldn't stand on it, and Pyrrha knew she'd found my weak spot and she now had the momentum fully under her control… in short, I was now fighting a losing fight, but I was going to make her work for this hard enough that it will be a Pyrrhic victory for her.

I stumbled back, keeping as much weight off of my injured knee as I could, hoping my aura would work quickly to fix any damage done. I retracted my gauntlet blades and grabbed up two smoke grenades, once more obscuring Pyrrha's view of the arena, I grabbed two of my more lethal dust grenades and rolled them towards Pyrrha, before hobbling backwards to get out of the blast zone. The grenades went off, peppering Pyrrha with shrapnel and a decently large explosion. Looking at my arm mounted scroll I saw that she had her aura depleted below half-way, but mine was dangerously close to the red. I readied myself for the incoming assault as the smoke cleared, I hadn't bothered going for my gun staff, it wasn't worth it at this point. I saw Pyrrha running at me, I steadied myself and extended my blades again to defend myself, keeping my injured knee back, which made me feel awkward as I was a left hander, thus I normally had my right knee forward in my natural stance. I wobbled a bit and Pyrrha pounced, launching her weapon in its javelin mode to throw me off balance and then backed it up with slamming into my side, shield leading to knock me to the ground. Pyrrha put away her weapons and rolled me into a leg lock manoeuvre, putting immense pressure on my right knee. I felt more pressure than usual leg locks, it felt as though my artificial joint was being ripped apart and I knew why: Pyrrha was using her semblance to begin separating the metallic parts of my knee from the organic parts, I immediately tapped out, not wanting to risk spending 6 more months in a hospital learning to walk again.

"Miss Nikos is the victor, Simon an excellent return match by you as well." Miss Goodwitch announced as she walked back into the middle of the arena.

Pyrrha released the pressure on my leg and immediately offered me a hand up to my feet which I accepted.

"Good match Simon, you're a most unpredictable and formidable opponent." Pyrrha complimented with a smile and a happy tone.

I smiled back, I held no bitterness about the way she had beat me, I was actually proud that she could use underhanded moves to attain victory if the opportunity presented itself, even if she was extremely covert about it. "Yeah, I look forward to getting better and meeting you again in the tournament." I said with a competitive tone as I turned to retrieve my gun staff and get out of the arena before the next match began.

It took me longer than I really wanted to get back to my team as I essentially had to hobble while my aura went to work on my knee. Sienna met me at the bottom of the stands and helped me up the stairs, keeping weight off my right leg. "Thanks Sienna, good to have a dependable partner." I said as I finally sat down in the back of the stands to watch the rest of the matches.

"Of course Si, that was one of the most intense matches I've seen: You just keep turning up the heat every time you step into that ring don't you." Sienna commented as she took her seat.

"I do try to give you all a good lesson in how to fight out in the real world." I commented in a smartass tone as I removed my armoured knee guard and flexed my right leg gingerly.

"You ok there Mon Capitaine? Getting old and getting arthritis?" I heard Nyanza taunt from the other side of Sienna.

"Nyanza, coming from the guy who's like 4 months older than I?" I shot straight back with a chuckle.

"He's write Nyanza….. If he is old, you're ancient: do you want a walking frame or a grave?" Teal teased her partner, eliciting laughs from all 4 members of SNST.

The rest of the sparring matches massed quickly and by the end my aura had gone to work on my knee and the pain was now just a dull, numb feeling as I walked out of the arena, I saw JNPR (Minus Jaune of course). I hobble-jogged to catch up and tapped Pyrrha on the shoulder.

"Hey Pyrrha, mind if I speak with you for a moment?" I asked politely to the Spartan.

Pyrrha waved Ren and Nora off "I'll see you both in the cafeteria, go on ahead I won't be long." She farewelled her teammates and gave me her attention.

I looked around and saw that all the other students were out of earshot before chuckling "I got to hand it to you Pyrrha, I never thought I'd find someone more underhanded than I at this school: Keeping your semblance a secret the way you do to play it to your advantage is amazing, I wish I'd thought of that one sooner… Props to you for that one." I congratulated Pyrrha who looked thoroughly confused right now.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about Simon." She chuckled nervously.

"Suuuure….. I know your semblance is polarity, or something else related to making my metallic weapons and armour mysteriously be repelled from you." I whispered with a laugh.

Pyrrha looked immediately worried "You are going to keep this a secret I hope?" Pyrrha asked, a concerned and pleading expression on her face.

I smiled "Of course, we all need our secrets, and yours is safe with me… however I will be wanting a rematch sometime in the near future when I'm fully fit and no semblances to be used by either of us, see who truly the best of Beacon is." I said competitively.

Pyrrha thought about my offer than held out her hand which I shook "Deal, I look forward to our future fights Simon." Pyrrha said, her face lit up in excitement at a test of her abilities without her semblance.

I nodded and walked away towards the SNST dorm to change into clean myself up before the next class, I wasn't feeling too hungry yet so I decided to simply skip morning tea and just have a decent meal lunch. _'Combat class down…. Now I just got to make sure we can get through the field trip to Forever Fall without dying and we're set'_ I thought as I got back to the dorm and entered, locking the door behind me.

**Thursday Night, SNST Dorm. Simon's PoV:**

It had been a quicker than expected week, I'd spent all my spare time training with SNST and regaining the coordination and timing I'd lost during my absence from the arena, SNST had been mostly well behaved, Nyanza even managed to not get a detention for not doing homework in Professor Port's class, by surprise, surprise actually doing his homework.

I lay on my bed, reading through an X-ray and Vav comic that Nyanza had lent me, he had every damned one. I'd made sure everyone was back in the dorm pretty early (just past sunset) so we could get an early night so we're well rested for tomorrow, even though we'd been told the area was mostly clear of Grimm: I'd long since learnt to always prepare for the worst.

Teal looked less than impressed at Nyanza and me simply lazing about reading comics. "You know, if you're going to make me skip my evening training session, we could at least study up on some Grimm, so if we do run into some then we know what to do?" Teal whined as she fidgeted around near the dorm's desk.

"Teal, the answer to that question is make sure your attack goes where their armour is not. Nothing else to it when killing Grimm, they have no Aura and most are dumb as dog shit anyway." I countered, before laughing at Vav being a total idiot.

Teal threw her hands up "Fine, but honestly, how you can be so laid back right now: It's our first trip into the field as a team." Teal commented as she sat down and took out a Grimm biology book.

"Because there will be 36 other students as well as Goodwitch in the area, we just need to well rested, well fed and have our weapons in working order in case something does go wrong." I responded, kinda amused that Teal was being so shitty at being ordered to miss a training session.

"If the chances are that small, then why the precautions?" Teal countered, feeling argumentative it seems.

"Because I know how intense your training sessions can be, you run yourself ragged and you're still exhausted till half way through the next day Teal, you go into combat in that state and you become a liability." I shot back, knowing fully well how fatigue can affect a person in a fight.

Teal stuttered for a bit then pouted, obviously without a comeback for my argument. I just chuckled and flipped the page on the comic.

Nyanza chuckled "Don't worry Teal, if you can't keep up tomorrow, I'll be sure to protect you."

I pressed the comic over my face and suppressed a chuckle, I couldn't tell if Nyanza was insulting Teal about being weak and not keeping up with the rest of us or trying to flirt, both options were hilarious in my opinion.

Sienna had earphones in and was oblivious to what had just unfolded around her. Peeking over my borrowed comic I saw that Teal looked absolutely stumped, probably trying to be offended more at the idea that Nyanza was better than her or his apparent attempt at flirtation. Nyanza was just sitting there reading his comic like nothing had happened. I just rolled my eyes and went back to reading the comic when not even 5 seconds later I heard Teal stomp over to Nyanza, guess she made a decision about what to be more offended at.

"Nyanza, if anyone was going to be in trouble out there…. It would be you, which means as your partner it'd be my responsibility to ensure you don't become Grimm chow." Teal taunted, in much the same manner that Nyanza had taunted her. Nyanza I could easily see it as flirting, Teal though: I was going to assume the pair had put aside their differences and were now having a bit of a friendly rivalry between partners, I just found it impossible for Teal to be the least bit flirtatious, and if she was…. Then it was certainly Nyanza's influence.

'_Dammit Nyanza last thing I need is another version of you running around…. You and Yang are nearly too much pranking and shameless flirting for the entire kingdom to handle, let alone Beacon alone!'_ I thought, suddenly very afraid of Teal becoming a shorter, slightly less busty yet just as perverted version of Yang.

I did my best to push that scary thought out of my mind and focus on the comic book, ignoring Teal and Nyanza now locked in discussion about whose the better fighter and why. I listened in on their reasoning as I read, as soon as I finished the last few pages of the comic I closed it and cleared my throat.

"While you both make excellent points about whose better, mind if I add in my opinion?" I quipped, a small smartass smirk on my face.

The pair looked at me "Ok Mon Capitaine, what does our leader have to say about his teammates?" Nyanza said with a chuckle.

"Nyanza, you're more geared towards facing humans or Faunus opponents in a built up urban environment or an arena, not Grimm in an open field. You can't taunt a Grimm and I'm sorry but I simply don't see you being able to swing around effectively in a forest like you do in the arena. I'm sorry to say but Teal is much better equipped for fighting our true enemy: The Grimm." I explained, my personal viewpoint.

I saw Nyanza look betrayed that I didn't side with my male teammate. Teal huffed and smiled down at her partner.

"See, told you." She said cockily before headed to her bed and lay down. "Well we got a big day tomorrow, I'm going to sleep, so you mind turning off the lights, comics can wait till another time." Teal all but ordered Nyanza and I, like she ran the place.

Nyanza and I looked at each other and shrugged, judging it better to just get to sleep and not risk pissing off Teal.

**Friday, Week 9: The Forever Fall. Simon's PoV:**

Team SNST had awaken with me just after sunrise to make our way to the forges to do last minute tune ups of our weapons to ensure all parts were working, blades sharp, magazines or dust vials full. After that I'd ensured all four of us had a good hearty breakfast before filing onto the bullheads with the other 9 teams and Professor Goodwitch to be transported into the deepest part of the Forever Fall. None of us had any idea why we were being brought out here, so everyone was kind of anxious to get on the ground to find out, me on the other hand was anxious to get on the ground due to the fact I immensely hated flying, a relic of my days in the _Fist_ and having been in some tight spots while airborne, which has only been reinforced since being thrown off a highway and landing inside a moving Bullhead.

The flight took about an hour, then about 10 minutes of waiting as the landing area was not big enough for half a dozen bullheads at the same time so they had to land in twos, and of course my bullhead was the last to touch down and unload Team SNST and Team PEPR. I jumped off and stretched, enjoying the morning sun and being out of that cramped aircraft. Miss Goodwitch led us from the landing pad where a Bullhead waited on the ground in the case of an emergency medivac was needed and into the deeper parts of the Forever Fall.

I and Team SNST hung on the left flank of the group, each of us looking around taking in the admittedly breathtaking scenery, we had walked maybe a kilometre from the landing sight and were well into the deeper parts of the forest. Most people where whispering in awe of the place to their friends, Glynda must have heard the exciting whispering and decided now was a good time to explain our purpose here.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so. Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock. Have fun!" Glynda explained and then waved her arms to dismiss us.

Some teams such as SALT and PEPR dashed off hurriedly into the forest, keen to get away from Glynda's watchful eye. I looked to my team and signalled them to follow me and we headed off into the forest, by the sounds coming from behind us: Teams RWBY and JNPR (Minus Jaune who had been dragged away by Cardin) were following close behind us. I took lead and withdrew _Umbra Vigilans _and racked the bolt, I was now ready for any Grimm that came our way.

I eventually led the teams to a small clearing between a high ridgeline and a stream leading into a waterfall about 300m from the clearing, I could hear the water tumbling over the falls from here even if I couldn't see it. Looking around and being satisfied that there were no Grimm in the vicinity I holstered my gun staff and withdrew a jar from the pack I was carrying on my back.

"Right then SNST, tap the trees and get some sap. Then we can sightsee." I barked to my team as I made for a tree nearby.

"Yes Mon Capitaine!" Nyanza said mockingly, complete with a mock salute before he made for another tree.

Team RWBY an NPR fanned out around the clearing as well. Nora being her usual happy-go-lucky self, danced and balanced an empty jar on her head as Ren did the tapping and extracting of sap.

I sat by my tree, watching the sap drip out of the tap I had put into the tree and into my jar, watching this peaceful fieldtrip unfold. I saw Weiss getting straight into her task, ignoring Ruby and her other teammates, typical Weiss, never taking in what's around her, only focused on the task. I shook my head and stood up, leaving my jar to slowly fill with the sap and walked over to my friend.

"Morning _Snowflake_, you know that jar will take a while to fill, so you probably can just leave it and relax for once in your life… well relaxation that doesn't involve sending me into an icy lake anyway." I commented as I leaned against the tree.

"Oi Simon, you're taken…. No flirting with the Ice Queen, she gets enough of that from Jaune!" I heard Nyanza call out from his tree, causing both Weiss and I to face palm and I saw Pyrrha's face light up in an envious blush before she bent back over to get back to work and avoid eye contact with anyone.

"Nyanza, you better hope Weiss doesn't take offence to that or I'll feed you to the next Grimm I see." I called back towards my teammate.

Weiss just rolled her eyes at the SNST antics and checked back in on her sap jar which was filling in a very slow manner. I walked up to Weiss and tapped her on the shoulder "Listen Weiss, thanks for last weekend, means a lot that you helped me like that." I whispered almost silently, but Weiss heard me.

"Don't mention it, ever again Simon. I don't want to know what your friend had to say and I don't want to be drawn into it again, ok?" Weiss whispered back, her tone demanding and absolutely serious.

"I promise I'll not draw you into it again, but there may come a day when this will affect us all, I just hope Cipher and I can stop it before it gets that far." I continued our hushed conversation, watching everyone else at their trees, all at least 20m away. Blake being the closest who'd just sat down to read while Ruby supervised their now filling jars, I really hoped Blake wasn't using her good hearing to listen in on me and Weiss.

Weiss turned and looked at me "If it is that big, then why not let Ozpin and the Hunters handle it?" Weiss whispered to me, looking now deeply concerned I was getting in over my head.

I rolled my eyes "I'm working with Vale's security, intelligence and military branches, Ozpin knows all about what I've been up to… My chance to back out and pretend something isn't very wrong in the shadows of Vale has come and gone." I whispered back, making it clear I was now committed down my current path.

Weiss looked at me, then behind me and began laughing "Hey Simon, is that you jar overflowing by that tree?" She laughed, garnering the attention of everyone.

I turned and saw my jar filled and overflowing with sticky sap "Oh fuck me!" I growled as I ran over and closed off the tap, now annoyed that I'll have to carry the sticky jar in my field pack.

"I'm sure Weiss would if you ask her nicely!" Nyanza said, laughing at my predicament.

Immediately Weiss had Nyanza in an immobilizing glyph. "Oh come on, take a joke Ice Queen!" He whined as I walked over and pored my jar of sap over Nyanza's hair, then rubbed the excess sap that was on the outside of the bottle on his face and clothes, cleaning my jar to be refilled and carried without getting my bag covered in sap.

"Oh man… first Yoghurt, now this sap? Do you two just hate my hair?" Nyanza whined about his now ruined sandy coloured hair.

"Well that's the disadvantage of having long hair, it gets messy in the field." I replied as I removed my helmet and ran my fingers through my freshly cut hair, now only about 2-3 inches long.

"HA HA, very funny. YANG! Can you fix my hair when we get back to Beacon?" He asked pleadingly to his friend from Signal.

Yang was currently leaning on a tree laughing at her friend's predicament "Sure, once you done your best to wash it out I'll give it a cut and a style to fix it all up… it's the least I can do after you deflected Weiss' temper off of me for a day." She managed to laugh out.

I saw Ruby giggling as well while Blake was still engrossed in her book, Nora was currently drinking a jar of sap, with Ren looking quite annoyed at his partner, even letting out a growl, not that Nora noticed in her own little world. And Pyrrha seemed to be ignoring the antics, as were the girls of SNST. I had to admit today was shaping up to be a good one, I made my way to the stream and washed out my now empty jar and making sure the outside was well scrubbed clean and no longer sticky before making my way back to my tree and turning the tap back on to get more sap to replace what was now all over Nyanza's head.

I stayed near my jar this time, not letting it overflow again… screwing up 1 simple task already today was bad enough, and to do the same thing again would make me seem incompetent. Once the Jar was filled I tucked it into my field pack and saw that most everyone else had at least one jar, except Nora who kept drinking hers, it got to the point that Ren confiscated her Jar and carried both of theirs to prevent losing anymore sap.

We were just finishing up and about to head to another part of the forest to meet up with some of the other teams. When a massive roar echoed throughout the forest.

Ruby was the first to speak up "Did you guys hear that?" The red Reaper asked concernedly.

I took off my field pack and drew _Umbra Vigilans_, and my team followed up by dropping their jars and drawing their weapons, immediately alert to the sound of bushes rustling nearby. I took aim with my gun staff, only to see Russel, Dove and Sky to appear, running for their lives like the cowardly bullies they were.

"URSA, URSA!" Russel cried out in fear as he ran for his life, smashing into Yang as he went, before he could keep running after his mates Yang lifted him up off the ground by the scruff of his neck.

"What, Where!?" Yang demanded of the terrified Russel.

Russel pointed the way he'd come "Back there! It's got Cardin!"

Immediately Pyrrha looked horrified "JAUNE!"

"Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby ordered, Pyrrha sent Ren and Nora back with Yang and Blake, in case they ran into trouble.

My team looked to me, I gave it 2 seconds thought then took off after Yang, Blake, Ren and Nora. "Follow me SNST, we'll help these guys get to Goodwitch then go round up the other teams. Let's go, go, GO!" I ordered as I sprinted, Gun staff holstered once more for ease of movement.

We got as far as the waterfalls before trouble struck, a pack of Ursa Minors, numbering maybe 30-35 were between us and where Professor Goodwitch was. "Nora, Ren. We'll engage this pack and you sneak around and get to Goodwitch!" I called out to the two faster and more agile people of our group.

"You got it Simon!" Nora called out before her and Ren ran off to the sides, using the trees for cover as the rest of us engaged.

"Sienna, give me a bit of cover!" I ordered to my partner who immediately kneeled in front of me, shield up and her shotgun/axe propped up on it, already firing into the pack. I drew _Umbra Vigilans_ and began firing flechettes while standing just behind Sienna, her shield defending us both.

Nyanza had taken used his tethered blades to swing off a tree and punt kick an Ursa off the falls, impaling it on the rocks below and launching two blades into another one, 1 hitting it in the leg, the other bouncing off its armoured plates.

Teal had ignited her dust whip with red fire dust and cracked it, sending a column of flames into the pack, igniting one of the Ursa, incinerating it in moments.

Yang was using another as a punching bag and Blake was back to back with Yang, using her weapon in its pistol mode to keep any Ursa from flanking her partner. We were holding our own currently, but I could hear rumbling throughout the forest, it seems that even more Ursa were in the area and I didn't know how well we'd handle reinforcements.

I wanted to lob some grenades, to really clear out the Ursa, but I couldn't risk injuring my classmates. Instead I tapped Sienna on the shoulder and she broke out running into the fray, deflecting an Ursa strike off her shield before cleaving its gut open with her axe, its insides spilling out.

I emptied the rest of my weapon's current magazine into an Ursa, which somehow didn't died and charged me. I extended my weapon's blades and rushed forward, rolling under its strike and plunging my weapon's forward blade into its abdomen, immediately retracting the blade and rolling away again before it could reach down and grab me. Looking around I saw each of us were facing several Ursa, they had numbers and size and we were being pushed towards the edge of the waterfalls. The Ursa swiped at me again, I managed to block it with my staff, pushing the massive paw away before twirling my staff to get a good grip on it and swung down, amputating the limb from the large Ursa. It howled and hobbled, but I ran forward and leaped up, delivering a kick to its head, knocking it over before swinging my blade down once more to kill it via decapitation.

I took a moment to breathe and load a fresh magazine of flechettes from my bandolier into my gun staff before sizing up the situation. I saw immediately that Sienna was fighting a losing fight against two Ursa, and a third was getting in behind her, ready to strike. I immediately ran forward, firing my weapon as I did, striking the beast behind Sienna several times and drew its attention. I kept moving forward, peppering the Ursa with flechettes, but it just kept coming at me, striking at me first with one of its paws which I jumped over, only to be cop a strike from its head, sending me flying backwards. I shook it off and jumped straight back up, running back into the fight, leaping over the Ursa's head and rolling down its back I got behind it and slammed slashed several times at its back and sides, utilising both of my weapon's blades. The creature was now covered in wounds, but none were fatal or debilitating. These Grimm were larger, stronger, faster and better armoured than the Ursa Minors that we had encountered during initiation.

I was beginning to feel tired, but I kept fighting, the Ursa went to swipe at me, only for its strike to be halted by its arm being yanked away by the tether of Nyanza's _Taunting Gambit_. I took advantage of this to sever the pinned limb, followed quickly by the Monster's head. I nodded thanks to Nyanza who took to the trees again to drop in on another Ursa. I saw that Sienna had taken out one of the other Ursa, but the 2nd was beginning to get the better of her, having managed to knock her axe away, she hid under her shield. I holstered my gun staff, and extended my gauntlet's 30cm blades as I ran in and shoulder charged the Ursa, knocking it off balance. I then began plunging my gauntlet's into the holes in its armoured back, ripping and cleaving chunks of meat out of it, distracting it so Sienna could grab her weapon and fire an explosive slug into its head, causing it to all but disappear into a small explosion. I saw Teal and Nyanza working together to take on another Ursa while Yang and Blake were still back to back, though now Blake was using her weapon's Katana mode. There were maybe 15 Ursa left and the 6 of us were feeling all beginning to feel the wear and tear of combat.

I took place behind Sienna again, using her shield as some protection as I started firing at more Ursa that were circling our classmates, trying to get in behind the already engaged students. The Ursa that remained were the strongest of the pack, and we were already beginning to tire taking out the weaker ones, this led to mistakes of timing, Nyanza missed time a strike and got his tethered blade stuck where it wasn't meant to be and an Ursa struck him, snapping his weapon's tether and sending him flying across the clearing, dangerously close to the waterfall. Teal, ignited her whip with white dust and swung in hard at the Ursa, cutting straight through it with the highly concentrated dust coating the whip.

Nyanza was back on his feet, but no only had 1 working tether and about 4 maybe 5 ballistic knives left in his gauntlets, but Nyanza wasn't deterred, instead charging right back in and launching a knife right into an Ursa's throat moments before it struck at Yang.

"Nice save Ny!" Yang called, giving her friend a thumbs up before finishing off the dying Ursa with a massive shotgun augmented punch.

The 6 of us moved to group up in a circle, protecting each other from being flanked by any of the remaining Ursa. I found myself between Sienna and Blake, as much as I tried to not think about it, I just couldn't help but feel very awkward, I was next to the daughter of the _White Fang's _top assassin, my gauntlets contained the blades used to kill him, I was wearing the uniform (stripped of _Fist _insignia) of an organisation sworn to enslave and murder Faunus and she had no idea of any of this. The Ursa circled and charged, I held _Umbra Vigilans_ like a pike and stabbed at the nearest Ursa, hitting it in the shoulder. The creature reeled only for another to come at me, this one was met by bullets from Blake's pistol, then killed by flechettes from my gun staff. The remaining 10 or so Ursa all charged in simultaneously, trying to overwhelm our tight defensive circle. I kicked at an Ursa and Blake backed me up by cutting it up with her cleaver, leaving it sliced oven and decapitated.

Though mine and Blake's small victory was short lived as the largest Ursa Mino of the pack blindsided Blake, knocking the Faunus girl down, she extracted her pistol and fired several shots, only for the magazine to run out of rounds. I lunged in and booted the Grimm in the head, backing up with a slash across its belly. The Ursa attacked me with its paw, I ducked and rolled to the side and stabbed at its neck with my gun staff's blades, unfortunately I misaimed the strike and the Ursa got a hold of my staff in its mouth, swinging me off my feet and over the 70m high waterfalls, I tried to hold onto my staff but the sweat made my grip slip and airborne I went, falling to my doom. I must have fallen maybe 20m when out of nowhere a ribbon with a pistol at the end of it came bulleting down at me, I grasped for and grabbed onto the pistol, wrapping my hands in the ribbon. Looking up I saw Blake straining to hold onto the weight of me and my armour. I wanted to lighten the load but I was holding on for dear life as a 50m fall was still fatal as anything.

I say Nyanza and Yang flank Blake and begin dragging me up the face of the waterfalls, I was soaked by this point, only adding to the weight they had to drag up. I could hear Sienna's shotgun and Teal's whip cracking as gunshots and explosions of dust echoed down the waterfalls. It took nearly a minute of clambering but eventually I was dragged by Nyanza and Blake by the shoulders back over the edge, I splayed out on the ground as Yang and Nyanza immediately jumped back up to fight the remaining Ursa, I just laid frozen to the ground, hyperventilating and not almost wanting to roll over and kiss the dirt, I was so thankful to be back on solid ground.

I felt Blake tap my cheeks lightly "Hey Simon, you ok? Here sit up… drink!" Blake ordered as she wrapped an arm around the back of my neck and held me up with 1 hand and reached onto my webbing and grabbed out my canteen, holding it to my mouth with the other. I was in mild shock from the fall. I just did as I was told and sipped some water from the canteen.

"This was worse than the time I got shot down in a Bullhead and The time I got thrown off out of a speeding car and off a Freeway overpass combined and landed on a flying bullhead combined." I laughed weakly as I finished drinking.

Blake looked at me perplexed "Well that does explain your hatred of flying somewhat." The ninja cat said as a crack of Yang's gauntlets launching a round through the skull of the last Ursa signalled the end of the combat.

Everyone circled around me "Well, that was quite the fall Simon, you ok?" Sienna asked, kneeling in front of me.

"He's fine, just slightly shaken… seems he makes falling off high places a habit." Blake answered for me as Blake helped me up and held me upright as I stumbled after my first step.

"Just remember he's a taken man Blakey, don't get to hands on." Yang teased.

Blake glared evilly at her partner as Sienna walked up to my other side and handed me _Umbra Vigilans_ completely covered in Grimm slobber.

"Don't listen to her Blake, you did what any Huntress should. And Thanks... for saving my life, I'd be a goner if not for you. _Even though you probably would have let me fall if you knew the truth_." I added on the last sentence mentally as I thanked Blake for saving me.

"Its fine, you saved me from that Ursa first, so let's just call it even, until next time you get thrown off a cliff at least." Blake said with a smirk as we grouped up and began making our way back to the assembly area, hoping that everyone else had been as lucky as we had been. Though I had a lot coursing through my mind, SNST and RWBY had grown closer as teams through the friendships between its members and today through combat, but I knew that this couldn't last, it was now only 4 weeks till the end of the semester, my self-imposed deadline to come clean with Blake, with Velvet, with everyone. I knew it was going to cause serious problems short term, but in the long run I knew I couldn't keep lying and hiding and expect people to trust me and follow me into a fight.

**That Night, Beacon Dorms. Simon's PoV:**

After we had all regrouped and retrieved all our equipment and sap we'd been evacuated. Most of us were unharmed, a couple people had broken arms from Ursa's getting one up on them, but mostly just cuts and bruises thanks to Nora and Ren assisting Goodwitch round up the other teams and wipe out a decent amount of Ursa. I'd gotten a text from Gregory making sure I was ok and explaining he'd heard what had happened because the VDF was sending in one of the 1st Mobile Regiment's four 1500 man battalion battlegroups in to sweep that part of the Forever Fall as well as Alpha Team, Head Hunters as there was a chronic shortage of fully trained Hunters, most were already committed to missions in Vale's outer colonies, so the army was becoming increasingly involved in hunting Grimm. This news honestly concerned me greatly, if the kingdoms were losing Hunters faster than we could be trained, then something was going horribly wrong in the outer colonies and away from Vale city itself. I'd made my way out to the roof of the dorms to get away from my team worrying over me after my fall, though Nyanza seemed more interested in hearing about the time I'd been thrown off a freeway.

Looking down I saw Jaune standing out on the roof alone, I'd heard he'd been quite brave in saving Cardin… it was good to see that Jaune indeed could be the bigger and better man when it counted. I saw Pyrrha walk out onto the roof, I could almost hear the discussion they were having in my mind. Everyone knew that Pyrrha was head over heels for Jaune: Well everyone except for Jaune of course who can't take his eyes off _Snowflake_. I saw them speak for a couple of minutes before Pyrrha walked away, only to stop when Jaune said something, a really pleading expression on his face. I leaned in intently, suddenly wishing I had Faunus hearing. A moment later Pyrrha walked casually, almost suggestively up to Jaune and shoved him to the ground. I had to make a massive effort not to burst out laughing and give away my presence. I saw Pyrrha speaking to Jaune and eventually helped him up, my guess was she was going to start training her partner, that or she was just getting well deserved payback for Jaune being an idiot. They continued this process for maybe 20 minutes until Jaune was no longer immediately falling to the ground when Pyrrha shoved him, then they retired for the night.

I was just about ready to pass out on after the long and tiring day I'd had when I heard footsteps behind me. Turning around I saw a distressed looking Velvet behind me, who quickly closed the distance between us and hugged me tightly, her head buried into my shoulder.

"I just went by your dorm, I heard what happened today in the Forever Fall. I heard you were a thread away from falling to your death, I just had to make sure you were ok." Velvet said, not crying, but visibly and audibly relieved to have me in her arms.

I lifted her head and cupped her cheek with my hands. "I'm fine Velvy, Blake had my back on that one, she wasn't about to let me die on her watch." I said reassuringly.

"I know, I guess I just, I just got worried for a moment. I've only had you back in my life for just over two months and already in that time you've nearly died twice, and that's just the times I know of." Velvet said, obviously scared of losing me after only just getting me back.

I clasped her hands and kissed her on the lips before looking into her eyes "Velvet, I'm a Huntsman and you're a Huntress, we lead dangerous lives, but I can promise you I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Not while I've got a good team like SNST covering me. And so long as I'm still around I'll be by your side, I'll always love you Velvet, in this life and the next. Now come on, it's getting late and cold out here." I said, giving one more kiss to Velvet before walking back off the roof and towards the SNST dorms for a well earnt rest.

**A/N: **Well then, I didn't expect this to be another 10,000 word chapter that brings this story over 250,000 words :P I hope you enjoy it, I'll try to have the next chapter out by the time RWBY Volume 3 begins. Please leave any comments, praise or criticisms you have in the reviews –CC Signing off.


	47. No Black and White, Only Grey pt1

**A/N: **First off, there's a new cover art for this story. An amazing drawing of Simon in his unarmoured casual outfit piggy backing Velvet, drawn by a most talented Artist by the penname of **DEVIN**. I thank them greatly for taking the time to make this for me.

And here we are, coming into the climax of the events of Volume 1. Things are going to get intense for Team SNST and Team RWBY. So sit back, relax and watch all hell break loose over the next couple of chapters just as all hell begins to break loose in RWBY Volume 3. So prepare to experience all the feels from all directions.

Good news: _RWBY: Grimm Eclipse_ has been Greenlit on STEAM in almost record time, when it is finally released, I'll be sure to get it and I'll be more than happy to play a few co-op games with any of you guys who'd like to.

I got a couple reviews about this and I will apologise for the utterly horrendous job I did at editing the last chapter, I will make sure I'm not a caffeine fuelled, zombie while editing from now on.

Special shout out to **DELTAGOD** for making me audibly groan in frustration at the punny review for the last chapter…. I'm sure Yang approves. Though I'd just as soon as drown you in sap, jokes jokes….. Actually no, I will drown you and you damned well know why mate _***Glares evilly***_

**Chapter 46: There is No Black and White, Only Grey Part 1. Friday, Week 10, Beacon. Simon's PoV:**

I had to say the last week had been frustrating to say the least, The Grimm infestation in the Forever Fall was well beyond what had recon and intelligence had estimated, that failure had cost dozens of soldiers their lives and had led to the use of Napalm and incendiary devices burning hundreds of hectares of the Forever Fall until some proper Hunters had finally been brought in from Vale's outer colonies and some from Mistral to deal with the growing numbers of Ursa roaming the Forever Fall. But the fact we weren't allowed to go back and help quell the hornet's nest we'd kicked up, while insulting, was not even the most frustrating thing, no, that title went to the newfound friendship SNST had formed with Teams RWBY and JNPR. After the battle in the Forever Fall, the members of the three teams had gradually begun to build friendships amongst each other on top of the existing ones of between myself and Weiss as well as Nyanza and the Sisters of RWBY.

This on the whole was fine except it meant I was now spending far too much time in close proximity to Blake and the guilt was beginning to build up inside of me, not for killing Schwarzer, which I was actually mildly proud of. No my Guilt was manifesting from wondering what became of Blake after that faithful day nearly over two years ago and what affect it had had on her emotionally and mentally. That wondering had been in my head since I'd arrived at Beacon and saw Blake lurking in the shadows during our welcome, though at the time my main concern had been whether or not she was there to kill me, this concern had been time and again proven wrong and buried for good when she had saved me from certain death a week ago.

And since she had saved me, the guilt had really piled on, especially with my team now sharing meals at the same table as RWBY and JNPR, as I was right now: It was lunch time, only Professor Oobleck stood between us all and the weekend, which I was thankful for: So many due dates for Essays and late night cram sessions in preparation for end of semester exams had taken place this week, I was lucky Sienna and Teal kept me working or I'd have left everything till the last possible moment to get it done.

I got my lunch of a few sandwiches and a juice to wash it down with and made my way to the table containing RWBY, JNPR and SNST where Nyanza was enthralling the table and embarrassing Yang at the same time with a story from their time at signal "So Yang was always a hothead, and well before she unlocked her Semblance, her clothing wasn't fireproof and heatproof as it is now…" Nyanza began before Yang who was sitting beside him began strangling him and covering his mouth to stop his ability to speak.

"I think we've had enough story time for today, wouldn't you guys agree?" Yang said, an embarrassed look upon her face.

"Oh I'd actually like to hear where this is going, you can strangle Nyanza as much as you like afterwards though, and I hear he's into that sort of thing as well as having his own dominatrix!" I responded with a chuckle as I slid into a seat between Weiss and Teal, the later of the two nearly choking on her food and Teal was starring ballistic daggers at me with her eyes and Nyanza was still being strangled, now kinda looking blue. Everyone else around the table was simply sitting there, unsure how to react to the first joke I'd made at the table all week, I'd been even quieter than Blake during meal times.

An awkward silence fell over our group of 12 for a moment until Nyanza managed to wrestle his way out of Yang's grip "Well as I was saying, her clothing never used to be fire and heatproof, so the first time she went full inferno with her Semblance, well it incinerated all her clothes in the middle of Signal's combat arena, it is the only time I ever saw Yang with some shame and modesty about her body. Literally ran as quickly as she could from the arena and locked herself in the adjoining locker rooms until her father brought her a new set of clothing." Laughed the rude and crude member of my team.

Weiss shook her head "Am I the only one who's noticed an uptick of tasteless jokes and stories since Nyanza began sitting with Yang? Both of them are just as guilty." The Heiress spoke up as she tended to her nails, while Nyanza once more found himself being strangled by his blonde friend Yang

"If it ends in Nyanza's misfortune, then who am I to complain? Besides this is nothing compared to some stories I've heard from drunken Mercenary snipers" I replied casually to Weiss who stifled a laugh at my response.

"Is anyone going to help me?" Nyanza choked out, once more going blue from Yang's chokehold.

"Sorry Nyanza, I've found out firsthand what happens to people who cross Yang Xiao Long. I prefer to not get the shit punched out of me again." I replied as I ate my sandwich and watched as Ruby jumped in and tried to help Nyanza free himself of Yang's death grip, much to Teal's, Sienna's Weiss' and my own enjoyment.

It took a moment, but Ruby managed to make Yang let go, by pulling on the Blonde's long hair. I had heard what happens when people mess with Yang's hair and I got ready to dive under the table for cover from the horror that awaits those who damage Yang's hair. But instead Yang just let go of my teammate and faced Ruby, giving her a look. Ruby just poked her tongue out at Yang and returned to her seat on the other side of Weiss.

We all simply looked stunned at how Yang didn't go nuclear over having her hair pulled at. Yang shrugged at us "What? She's my sister? I can't exactly beat her up for simply doing things that any little sister would. But if any of you try it…. I'll punch you through a wall." Yang explained, ending with a threat and her eyes flashing red for a moment before going back to lilac.

I looked to Nyanza "See, I have no desires to be punched through walls… again." I explained.

Nyanza eyed me off I knew what he wanted to say, he wanted to beg me to explain the references I keep making to the things I've had happen to me in my past: Bullhead crashes, being thrown off Freeways, punched through walls, dirty stories and above all: How I got my facial scars. But he held his tongue because he knew I wasn't going to answer any such questions in public.

"So, what's everyone doing this weekend? Ruby asked, trying to steer the conversation at the table away from anything vulgar or that would build tension.

"Ooh, ooh, Renny and I are going to the Zoo…. They just opened a Sloth enclosure and you can get to hug one!" Nora interjected herself into the conversation loudly, jumping up excitedly.

Everyone laughed and I looked to Ren, I kind of felt sorry for him, he had to have enough sanity and caution for two people given that Nora clearly had either one in great supply. But I saw him smiling happily at his best friend, it was a testament to how patient he was to be able to withstand the spontaneous ball of craziness that was Nora Valkyrie.

"Well Jaune and I are training for the tournament, If we can keep up with my new training regime for him, I'm confident he will be able to qualify." Pyrrha said confidently.

I leaned over to Weiss "Psst, I know she's a miracle worker, but if Pyrrha somehow manages to get Jaune good enough to qualify, I'll literally eat my helmet, even though I know exactly where it's been." I whispered with a snigger.

Weiss stifled a laugh and kept a straight face as she leaned back in "I'll hold you to that Simon." Weiss whispered back.

"Yo Simon, what about us? Wanna head into Vale for Pizza or something, seeing as we basically slept all last weekend?" Nyanza asked, finally getting his voice and normal face colouration back.

I thought about it, part of me wanted to try and sneak off to find Gregory and get back to the business of tracking down Levi as well as Ty's killers, but I had to admit I was enjoying not being bruised, battered and bloodied every weekend, so I'd be selfish and take a weekend to once more spend with my team, go and see Gregory next weekend and begin sorting through anything he's found.

"Yeah why not Nyanza, while we're there you can even get yourself a gun to complement your _Taunting Gambits_. No offense but only having 12 ballistic blades in a fight is not going to last long. Especially if like last week one of your weapons was ruined in battle." I explained to my male teammate that in no uncertain terms his weapons were inadequate for Grimm fighting, especially given most Grimm hunts stretched over days or weeks for graduated hunters.

Nyanza rolled his eyes "I guess you're right, it was hard fighting with one Gauntlet last week, would be good to have some firepower to augment that with. You could just give me that nice sniper rifle you got?" Nyanza asked, causing me to simply laugh at him.

"Sure, give me 10,000 Lien and it's yours." I shot straight back, causing Nyanza to shake his head and grumble.

By this time lunch had finished and it was time for class with Professor Oobleck, we all stood and readied ourselves for our classes, I felt relaxed, I'd taken to trusting this place enough to stop wearing weapons or body armour around campus except when needed to for class. I walked into Oobleck's class and took a seat near Velvet as I usually did in this class.

At exactly 10 seconds before the beginning of class Doctor Oobleck entered in a blur and stopped in front of a blackboard, marked with this week's topic: _Straltis: The Jewel of Mistral's crown_.

"Good Morning class, today we're going to discuss one of the most interesting colonies in all of Remnant: Straltis. Now can anyone tell me what the most unique characteristic of Straltis is?" The Doctor asked, as though anyone had actually completed their readings, not that they had to as Pyrrha, from Mistral herself already knew the answer and her hand shot straight up. "Yes, Miss Nikos?"

"Straltis is the only major populated area of Remnant without a Grimm population, this is due to the main Island and the smaller ones surrounding it only being inhabited about 75 years ago, 5 years after the _Great War_ ended. No Native population means no native Grimm." Pyrrha answered confidently and politely, shooting a smug look at Cardin who flipped her the bird under the table where Oobleck couldn't see it.

"Correct, this 500 Square kilometre Island is one of the most peaceful places on all of Remnant, entirely free from Grimm, not only this but it sits on a strategic point dominating the trade lanes between Vale, Atlas and Mistral. Thus making it also a very wealthy little Island and the most important part of the Mistral trade routes and makes Mistral the economic and trade powerhouse it is today." Oobleck explained as he darted around the classroom.

I turned to Velvet who looked thoroughly bored with the content "Don't worry, at least he actually teaches us useful information, unlike Professor Port and his bluster." I whispered, making my girlfriend snigger and hide her face in her hands, lest she draw the attention of Oobleck.

The period went faster than I'd actually expected, we were leaving our last class for the week when I saw my team waiting outside, along with team CFVY, my eyes shot open wide _'Oh fuck, not good.. ABORT, ABORT and RUN!'_ I thought, but it was too late, Velvet and I had been seen and were immediately swarmed by our teams.

"Good news Simon, was just talking to Team CFVY and they agreed to come out for pizza with us! Coco even agreed to help me choose a suitable gun." Nyanza said, a smartass tone to his voice and glint in his eye.

I held a false smile, it wasn't so much that I didn't like CFVY, in fact I found them to be quite nice people. It was more the fact I knew this afternoon was going to be Fox, Coco and Nyanza all going out of their way to embarrass Velvet and I. _'I wonder if it is still too late to run off and become a Cipher Agent with Gregory'_ I thought despairingly as I was essentially dragged back to my team's dorm to get ready for the inevitable torture, though I was sure that spending the arvo with Velvet would be well worth dealing with Coco and Nyanza.

**Vale, That afternoon. Gregory (Cipher-9) PoV: **

It felt odd being in this part of town, it was a more well off part of Vale. I was personally more used to being deployed around the shabby poorer suburbs of the Faunus Quarter. Rather than my usual black body glove and lightweight armour with thermal goggles and mask. I was wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase and a temporary new face, courtesy of some really talented makeup artists. I didn't have my flame gauntlets, but I had my daggers and a pistol concealed under my suit jacket, in case this got a little hairy. _Watcher-27_ was not with me, he was in a getaway van a few block away in case I needed to escape from this meeting.

I walked down the street until I came to my destination: _Tukson's Book Trade_. I breathed in heavily before stepping through the door. I saw two teenagers by the comic section, so I stood by the non-fiction area and looked at a series of spy novels, kinda ironic considering I was now a spy. I stood looking through various spy and mystery novels until Tukson had finished serving the teenagers with their comic books.

I still stayed in the spy novel section, where I been designated to stand to signal I'd arrived. I heard footsteps behind me and a shadow enveloped me, my contact had given me his full attention I turned to face the tall bookstore owner. "May I recommend _A Clear and Present Danger_?" He said, offering a book for me to purchase.

I shook my head "No, not today, I think I'll take _A Debt of Honour_ instead." I replied with my half of our agreed upon code to signal we were now safe to speak freely.

"I wasn't sure Keeper would send someone, I was sure that intelligence would think this was a trap." Tukson said in a whisper.

"Well we were always going to send someone, I just don't know why you specifically requested an agent who had never been a part of _OPERATION Low Blow_" I asked, genuinely wondering why an agent with experience dealing with the _Fang_ was not sent.

"Because the _White Fang_ has dossiers on the agents working against them, you on the other hand are a relatively new agent, they do not know you yet. That gives us both safety through anonymity." Tukson explained, looking very unnerved.

"Fair enough, I'm imagining that you'll be telling us how the _White Fang_ found out who our agents are as part of the payment you'll give for our help with your defection and escape." I replied, I'd been instructed to pump Tukson for all the information I could, as quickly as I could.

"I'll do my best to find out what I can about it, but what I can give you is the location of a weapons cache and the details of several _White Fang _bank accounts, that should be a good start, I'll gather as much information for you to be handed over when I get my ticket out of this death trap." Tukson answered, making sure to give us something so we didn't feed him to the wolves, but keeping enough secrets and his cards well-hidden so we had to keep working with him, I was pretty impressed with him, and he knew how this game was played much better than I did.

"So you have nothing to give me, say on the dust shop robberies being perpetrated by Faunus in the last few weeks?" I asked, trying to glean anything out of him that would help _Intelligence_ prove the _Fang_ was behind the robberies.

Tukson merely shook his head, giving me absolutely no indication one way or the other.

"I'll convey your terms, I think it goes without saying that it will take time to get approval for moving you out of Vale, but if this information is as good as you say it is, I think we'll expedite your defection and move to Vacuo. I'll arrange for you to be put under surveillance so we can protect you from potential execution if your _White Fang_ brothers find out. " I said, my tone flat, emotionless.

Tukson's eyes widened "NO! No one watching me, the Fang will find out in a minute and then I'm dead!" He growled in a whisper.

"I'll explain your position to Keeper, but in the end it is his call and if he wants agents watching you, then watched by agents you shall be." I explained, making sure our newest Faunus defector knew he was playing by Intelligence's rules, by my rules now.

Tukson weighed up his options, a very thoughtful look on his face. "Ok Mister…."

"You can call me Ilan, no need to use my designation." I answered his question, using my middle name as my identity. I handed Tukson several books "I think I'll purchase these ones, gift wrapped for a friend if possible." I said, returning to speaking code as we settled up our business for today.

Tukson nodded and went out back, I saw him slide several data sticks into the books before wrapping them up and bringing them out. "Thank-you Tukson, I'm sure you'll be getting my business again in the near future." I farewelled the bookstore owner and exited the store.

Walking down the street I hailed a taxi, or at least what looked like a Taxi. In reality it was an intelligence Vehicle driven by another agent, to take me to a restraint where I'd hand the books over a very lovely looking, newly recruited female Watcher agent with Jet black hair and Golden eyes posing as my date who'd take them back to intelligence HQ. _'I honestly wonder if Intelligence has tried doing things the simple way once in their entire existence, without the need for so much complex subterfuge.'_ I thought as I climbed into my "Taxi" and off to my "Date".

**That Same Time, Papa Ackbar's Pizza Shop. Simon's PoV:**

Once more we'd found ourselves at this small pizzeria, this time with Team CFVY in tow, I'd let Coco take control in helping Nyanza's new weapons while I spend some time with Velv, I immediately regretted that when she'd ended up convincing him to pick two chromed handguns chambered for dust augmented 10mm automatic. _'Lethal and Stylish'_ was the words that Coco had used to describe the weapons and their shoulder holsters, the leather on it marked in ornate patterns.

So now here we were, all sitting around a big table, enjoying garlic bread before the pizza came. I went to grab a slice of it, only for the plate to be moved away by Coco.

"Sorry Simon, can't have you ruining your breath like that… not sure Velvet would kiss you with garlic breath." Coco said cheekily.

Nyanza laughed "Well that and eating it could kill you Simon, you freaking vampire." My male teammate said just as cheekily in reference to my pale skin, not as pale as Weiss' but anyone could immediately tell I'd spent a long time in Atlas' far northern regions.

I looked angrily at the two trolls while Velvet blushed and her ears drooped slightly in a pout at being publicly teased, but I knew Velvet was more doing it for show, more than actual hurt or embarrassment, she had thicker skin than she let on. But I wasn't about to let Nyanza and Coco get away with this without a bit of payback.

"Coco, you're just jealous because no one at this table is kissing you." I laughed, knowing this would lead to interesting results.

Velvet immediately swallowed her food and buried her head in her hands, not wanting to watch Coco's ego take control and its results. Coco looked at me, her eyebrow raised. My team watched on curiously, until out of nowhere Coco reached across the table to the blind Fox and yanked him up into a kiss, tongue and all. Fox seemed to be enjoying himself, Velvet on the other hand still had her head in her hands.

"Has she stopped yet?" Velvet Whined.

I waited a few seconds before shifting her chocolate brown hair out from over her face "It's safe, I think I learnt my lesson about insulting Coco's unending ego."

Velvet sat up and shot me an exasperated look "Please don't do that again…. That was tame compared to some things she's done when her pride is challenged."

Coco looked to say something but then two staff members came out, each carrying a two pizzas, everyone fell silent, only the sound of 8 teenage stomachs hungry for food was to be heard as the pizzas were set down. I kept a close eye on the one set in front of Nyanza and Coco, keeping the smirk of trolling anticipation off my face as I grabbed up a slice of pepperoni and took a bite. Coco and Nyanza both grabbed up a slice of what looked like a regular Meatlovers Pizza: But the moment the pair took a bite, their eyes widened and they both immediately guzzled down any drink they could get their hands on.

"WHAT IS THIS!?" Coco gagged, her hand at her throat as she scrambled for Fox's drink.

"Oh that? It's called the _It's a Trap Pizza_, made especially for you by papa Ackbar. It looks like a regular pizza but it is loaded with hot as hell spices and peppers" I laughed out, I was laughing that hard I had tears coming out of my eyes as I leaned onto Velvet's shoulder who was also giggling at her leader's misfortune.

Nyanza had just finished eating the last few slices of Garlic bread, minus some Velvet had on her plate and shot ballistic knives at me with his eyes "You sonofabitch, why would you do this to me! Your only male Teammate!" Nyanza complained as he breathed, his mouth and throat on fire.

"Because both you and Coco deserved it, you planned this outing to try and embarrass Velvet and I, so I took the liberty of getting a little pay back, even if it is a little pre-emptive." I shot back while everyone else was still laughing.

Coco and Nyanza looked at each other and then to me and then both stood from the table and quickly came over to me: Coco held me down by my shoulders and Nyanza picked up a slice of the trap pizza and held it to my mouth.

"Now Come on Simon, have a slice. We promise it's nice." Nyanza said as he held the slice of painfully hot pizza near my mouth.

I honestly felt like this was some kind of interrogation, guess I deserved it after bashing Nyanza to a bloody pulp repeatedly in the first few weeks. "Fine then Nyanza, even if it just to prove I'm not a whiny little bitch like you." I said as I took a bite of the pizza. Immediately I regretted my decision, my mouth felt like I'd swallowed freshly ignited fire dust. But I used every bit of concentration I could and tried to keep a straight face, even as my eyes began to water.

Everyone, even Velvet began to laugh at Coco, Nyanza and myself.

I blinked rapidly and began breathing heavily "Ok, that-s-a spicy Pizza!" I said, my voice strained as I still felt my insides burning.

It was Velvet who finally put me out of my suffering, handing me some Garlic bread she had saved. I ate it quickly, feeling some relief as the bread did its job of taking the heat out of what I'd just eaten.

"Than-Thanks Velvet, Oh my, that is just so damned hot." I gasped, the fire inside me beginning to die down.

"Oh you bloody think! You essentially fed us edible fire!" Nyanza complained as he sat back down, now even with me.

"Well at least there are other, non-foody-trapped pizzas for us to eat." I said, trying to calm my hot-headed teammate down.

Nyanza just looked at me unamused. "Foody-trapped, really? That's a horrible pun, and I know horrible puns… I'm friends with Yang."

I laughed while everyone else groaned "What? Is it really that bad?"

Velvet looked me in the eye and simply nodded, before rolling her eyes and going back to her pizza, a small smile on her face, obviously happy to see me cut loose for a while.

Looking around I saw my teams getting on well with the 2nd years, and even with each other. Thinking back to how dysfunctional we were as a team 2 and a half months ago and how well we had worked together last week, I was very impressed at how much they, we all had matured and managed to put the team ahead of our conflicting egos and personalities. I leaned back and relaxed, enjoying the sight of my team all laughing and joking together, about what I didn't know, I wasn't even listening at this point, just enjoying this small slice of peace while I could, something in the back of my mind.

**Unknown Day, Week 11. East of Vale city limits, Lachlan McLean's PoV:**

It had been a busy time for us, our actions against the Faunus and the _White Fang's_ retaliations had gained us many new recruits, those who were attentive enough to realise the spikes of violence in the _Faunus Quarter_ weren't gangland wars. What had begun over a year ago as I, Levi and a few dozen former members of the _Atlesian Black Fist_ now numbered well over 500 guerrillas spread the City itself and the inner Kingdom and another 500 scattered among the outer colonies. Though I myself was mainly stuck in our main encampment outside of Vale's city limits overseeing supply of _Black Fist_ cells and training of new recruits rather than taking the fight directly to the Faunus themselves, needless to say I found myself very bored and very frustrated a lot actually being in command.

I sat in my office in our small compound, thinking on our next move. It had to be something big, not just shooting up Faunus businesses or residential areas and covering it up as gang violence, and_ The Queen's_ orders were stifling my men's morale and our recruitment efforts as well as spreading the message of our noble cause of protecting humanity from those filthy animals, but I had to play nice with her and do as she said, she was after all very helpful in getting my men weapons, supplies and the locations of deserters. From behind me I heard the tell-tale beeping of my commlink to the mysterious _Black Queen_.

Turning to it I answered the call and the usual blurred womanly figure with glowing eyes is what met me when I looked at the projection.

"Ahh Lachlan, and here I was thinking you'd be too busy with your new army to talk to me." Came the eerie voice, it scared the hell out of me and demanded control of me and my full attention.

I put on a polite smile "Never, I always have time for my benefactor. I take it you have something for me?" I asked, knowing I never got a call unless she had orders for me or news on where to find more deserter scum.

"Yes, a mission that I want you to personally oversee. You've been cooped up in that little camp for too long Lachlan, you're losing touch." The mysterious voice commanded me, I leaned in, suddenly intrigued and eager to coat my bayonet in Faunus blood.

"Go on Ma'am, what is it you want me to do?" I asked curiously.

"One Week from now on the Sunday night I need you to do something big, an attack all across Eastern Vale. Get as many Police, Intelligence Agents, Hunters and soldiers you can away from Vale's docks. I have other agents who are in need of a window of opportunity to complete their missions unmolested by authorities." The Queen ordered.

I frowned, I didn't appreciate our grand crusade's opening move being reduced to a mere distraction for another one of the Queen's pieces. But I was not going to say no to the opportunity to finally come out and push our cause to the forefront of Valean society, no more pretending to be gangsters fighting Faunus. No, now was time to finally begin taking back our kingdom and eventually all of Remnant for the human majority. I smiled evilly at the projection "I look forward to this mission, Vale's Faunus scum will know the true power of the _Black Fist_."

"I'm sure they will, but remember, keep your attacks confined to Eastern Vale, well away from the docks and surrounding areas." The Queen said firmly, almost threateningly and then without another word, shut off the connection.

I stared into nothingness for a moment before grabbing my radio, a vicious smile on my face "Levi, go get the Ghost and the officers. I got new orders."

**Thursday Night, Week 12. Simon's PoV: **

_I was in a field of savage White Fang, I was beaten and bloodied. My gun staff: Umbra Vigilans, my Watchful Shadow, long since smashed and the blades of my Gauntlets, the remains of Vindex Umbra, my Vengeful Shadow were cracked and broken: yet still I fought for at my feet lay my team and Velvet and Weiss all wounded. A hooded and masked White Fang soldier attacked: I recognised him, and the forked tipped sword he used. _

"_Hello Simon, weak, pathetic Simon…. You could not protect your team, you could not protect your love… you can't even protect yourself!" I heard the dark, hate filled voice of Schwarzer Belladonna as the masked figure charged forward and slashed at me with the forked sword that had left more than one mark upon my life. I blocked the slash with my gauntlets, but the blow shattered my last remaining weapons. Next the hooded Belladonna launched a shattering kick to my face which sent me flying over the group of friends I'd been protecting. Now disarmed I tried to get back up but my body failed me and I just slumped to the ground, blood flowing freely over my face tinging my vision red. The hooded figure walked slowly forward stopping at my wounded friends. _

_Looking to me the figure laughed "Try as you may you'll fail, you'll ALWAYS fail to protect those you care for…. You could not protect your parents, you could not protect your original teammates during the Black Fist Trial and now you've failed to protect everyone: your new team, the girl you've been charged with body guarding and you have failed to protect the one you love." The figure said menacingly as they plunged the fork tipped blade into the hearts of my friends 1 by 1. First Sienna then Nyanza, Teal and Weiss and last of all Velvet. My body just lay there frozen as each of my friends met their ends by the man whom I thought I'd killed. As Velvet fell I screamed, willing my body to move but nothing happened as Schwarzer moved menacingly towards me._

_As he stood above me, ready to deal the killing blow the mask dissipated into a puff of black and silver dust to reveal not the face of Schwarzer, but of his daughter: Blake, without hesitation Blake plunged the blade down at my heart…._

My eyes shot open and I sat up, looking around I saw a moonlit room. My team all sound asleep, safe in their beds, oblivious to my waking up. I was breathing heavily and I was slick with sweat from my all too real nightmare, I looked at my team again, now feeling sick with guilt at my new realisation _'Sooner or later, you guys will get dragged into my life outside of Beacon…. And I honestly don't know if I'm good enough to protect you when that happens.'_ I thought sadly, I called upon my years of experience at sneaking into places I shouldn't be and slipped silently out of bed and out of our dorm room.

Walking down the now deserted halls of Beacon in a pair of football shorts and a singlet I eventually found my way to the library and attached 24/7 study labs, complete with a coffee maker. I clicked the maker on and slumped into a chair as the kettle began to boil, there in my solitude I broke, tears streaming down my face and choked sobs breaking the silence. I was scared, scared of that nightmare, scared of losing my team or my friend or my love to the demons of my past. The kettle whistled as water boiled within it, I stood and fixed myself a cup of thick black coffee, I honestly could not be bothered with milk or sugar tonight.

I sat down and took a sip of the bitter liquid, I could barely hold the mug I was shaking that badly, my nerves were frayed to breaking point with my mind ripping itself apart with guilt, guilt I'd tried so hard to suppress ever since I'd managed to break free of the indoctrination the _Fist _had subjected me to and had only intensified since meeting Blake and reuniting with Velvet. I hid it well in public, but it was always there, I couldn't even look at Velvet without being reminded of the sheer amount of Faunus blood on my hands. And then there was Blake, a girl I'd Orphaned to sate my own bloodlust, a girl who too was at Beacon running from her past, but appeared to be doing a better job of it than I.

I sat there staring off into nothingness while occasionally sipping on the bitter coffee, trying to calm myself down and stop myself from breaking down again.

I sat alone in the study room for I don't even know how long until I heard footsteps coming down the halls, accompanied by the tapping of a cane, moments later the door to the study rooms opened in walked was Professor Ozpin, sporting his cane and an empty coffee mug.

"Ahh Mr Alexander, I was wondering who was wondering the campus this late at night, or early in the morning if you want to be specific." Ozpin said with a chuckle as he went to reheat the water in the kettle.

"And you just happened to be strolling the campus at the exact moment I was out and about?" I replied, suspicious of whether or not there were surveillance devices installed around.

"So, Simon" Ozpin began, I did a double-take, Ozpin rarely if ever called students by their first names in their presence. "How are you holding up? It has not been an easy time for you recently and it is beginning to show in your grades." Ozpin asked, concern evident in his voice.

I looked at Ozpin, I knew there was no point in lying to one of the most intuitive people in Remnant. "I want to come clean, I need to. I just don't even know where to begin unravelling the web of lies, there are some parts I can't say, like my association with _Intelligence_ or what I really do outside of Beacon. But I just want it all to end: the lies, the secrets, and the guilt." I replied, my voice hollow.

Ozpin hummed as he poured himself out some coffee "Seems to me you have two choices: You can tear down the web all at once on your own terms, or you can try to remove it piece by piece, running the risk of getting yourself caught and consumed by it, kind of like walking blindly into a spider's web, lashing out at anything and anyone nearby, everything happening on the Web's terms, not your own." Ozpin explained as he sat opposite me and sipped his coffee.

I looked down at my coffee "I know you're right, this isn't easy though…. It's going to a very painful experience for all involved, and there is a LOT of people involved." I said, knowing I was merely trying to stall the inevitable.

"Maybe, but the alternative of continuing down this path of lies and secrets will only hurt everyone more when the truth eventually is revealed. We both know that, so why stall and make it all worse?" Ozpin asked, his voice now entirely devoid of emotion.

"Because I'm a coward, I run from any problem I can't solve by shooting it down or slicing it up." I said flatly.

Ozpin looked at me thoughtfully "You are many things Simon: You're a soldier, a survivor, a protector and a friend. But you're certainly not a coward, I've met my fair share of them in my many travels around Remnant and you don't fit what I'd consider cowardly. You have faced and continue to face dangers most of my students are yet to experience or don't even know exist. That is why you were made a leader, you're proven to withstand the immense pressures of war and violence. Traits I unfortunately believe my Students will need to acquire sooner rather than later." Ozpin said, regret coming into his voice in the last two sentences.

I sat there thoughtfully, going over what Ozpin said. "Sir, why was I brought to Beacon? I know it wasn't just to try and help me, that might have been part of it, but you always have more reasons than simple pity for what you do."

Ozpin nodded, knowing I wasn't as easily led as others given my history on being led. "As you've probably learned in your various misadventures, things in Vale are not as peaceful as the council leads the general populace to believe. While we are safe from the Grimm within our defences, elements within our own society threaten to bring Vale down from the inside. Groups such as the _White Fang_ and _Black Fist_ are operating within Vale, while at this time both groups are keeping their heads down, I fear this will change sooner rather than later. And when it does, I'll need students with experience from both groups to help counter these currently unseen threats to not only Vale, but all of Remnant." Ozpin replied, being upfront with me about his reasoning: I had knowledge of the _Fist_ and I was going to be expected to help take it down.

"Well that explains why you didn't come down on me like a ton of bricks about working with Keeper and _Intelligence_. You wanted me to be involved to learn anything new about the _Fist_ and its operations." I replied, suddenly aware I'd once again been led, but I didn't feel dirty about it this time because I did choose rather than be coerced into it.

"That would be a fair assessment of my reasoning Simon, but in the times to come how are people to trust you if you won't trust them enough to open up even a little bit, especially with your partner Sienna. The strain is there, even if you lack the perception to see it. They hold themselves back from asking questions because they fear setting you off, and a good leader can never lead by fear." Ozpin replied, rebuking me subtly, causing me to look away from the wise old man piercing my very soul.

"This weekend then, this weekend I put it all out in the open for those that have a right to know and I'll deal with those consequences myself…. But should the worst happen, see to it all my possessions are given to Gregory." I said, part as a light hearted joke, but also as my final will for Ozpin to execute should Blake decide I was worth killing after all, I knew it was highly unlikely but my nightmare was still very disconcerting.

Ozpin nodded and sipped at his coffee before standing "I advise you to get some sleep, you have a big few days ahead and it is best that you are well rested." Ozpin said as he rose from his seat and tapped his cane on the ground as he strolled off into the abandoned halls of Beacon, continuing his stroll.

I sat there in the study room for a few minutes more until I began to yawn and jumped up to make my way back to my team's dorm, hopefully they'd still be asleep and none the wiser about my little episode.

**Friday, Week 12. SNST dorms, Simon's PoV:**

I awoke late, the dorm seemed empty except for me, I had managed to come back and get a few hours of shallow, fitful sleep. My mind was running like a freight train trying to articulate how and when I was going to get Blake by herself and tell the truth. I sat up in my bed for what seemed an eternity, just running over what to say and how to say it without getting cleaved apart, shot or stabbed by the incognito Faunus. Looking at the time I saw it was already 8am, I decided to take a shower and get some hot coffee before class to try and clear my head, Ozpin had said there'd been a noticeable slip in my grades as of late and I intended to not let my personal turmoil put my place here in even jeopardy.

It was about 8:30am when I walked into the cafeteria for a quick coffee and maybe a croissant before bolting off for classes. Looking around I saw my SNST with RWBY and JNPR as had become the new norm, I could see Nyanza, Yang and Ruby laughing about something as well as Teal and Weiss' scowls from here. Looking elsewhere I saw Velvet and Team CFVY tucked away in the back corner of the eating hall, deciding now probably wasn't the best time to be around my team or Team RWBY. Grabbing my coffee and a croissant I walked briskly towards CFVY's table, not even looking in the direction of where my team was sitting or acknowledging their existence. I walked up behind Velvet and tapped her left shoulder before quickly stepping to the right, causing the surprised bunny to see nothing to her left when she turned that way. Leaning in I whispered "Boo" into her rabbit ear.

Velvet jumped slightly and turned to face me, an embarrassed blush on her face "Not funny Simon." They Faunus girl pouted as she moved over so I could jump in beside her, my face lit up in a false smile I'd learnt from Weiss during my time at _White Castle _"Good Morning Velvy. To you as well Fox and Yatsuhashi." I greeted CFVY, once again deliberately ignoring Coco, as had become my little running joke with Team CFVY.

Coco almost choked on her Coco Pops "Oh come on, what am I… chopped liver?" the fashionista whined sarcastically.

"No, Chopped liver is much more amicable and generally friendly, oh and better looking." I shot back, game-set-match Simon.

Coco looked at me, her jaw dropping "Your savagery knows no bounds Simon… Also, Velvet, control your boyfriend from checking out your captain in front of you, its poor form on his part." Coco teased.

I was sipping smugly on my coffee and I inhaled a mouthful, now choking in shock at how quickly and easily Coco had turned the tables on me. Velvet tapped me on the back a few times, making sure I was ok.

It took me a few moments of coughing but I managed to breathe once more, ignoring the quizzical looks from the other upperclassmen surrounding us, but they gave it little thought, they all knew what Coco was like and at 1 point or another she always made you choke on your words, or breakfast with how quick her wit is.

"Wow, I just can't win against you can I?" I said sarcastically as I began sipped at my coffee again.

"Nope, no one ever does, well except for Velvet sometimes." Coco replied smugly.

I just rolled my eyes and turned to Velvet "Hey Velv, you doing anything after class or at all over this weekend? Was hoping we hang out, maybe take a picnic down by the cliffs." I asked, hoping for there to be a relaxing atmosphere around Velvet and I when she learns the full extent of what I've done.

Velvet shook her head "Sorry Simon, with semester finals coming up and our team mission coming up early next semester, Coco has us training and studying all through this weekend and next week. But after next week we're headed back home to Exton, so we'll have two weeks to relax and get away from all the stresses of school." Velvet said reassuringly, oblivious to my reasons for wanting to get some time alone with her beyond just her company.

I smiled my false smile, not letting the disappointment and stress show through, but I was glad for the end of next week to come as soon as possible, two weeks away from everything was just what the doctor ordered. "I'm looking forward to it Velvet, hopefully all the old gang actually still recognise me." I said, genuinely concerned that no one would actually recognise me, given that I barely recognised me some days.

Velvet must have heard the concern in my voice and smiled "I'm sure once they see that impish smile you've still got even after 5 years, they'll instantly recognise you." Velvet said, giving my free hand a squeeze.

I smiled, a genuine smile this time. It was small things like that comment and the squeeze of my hand that made my day, Velvet and I had gotten to a point where we weren't overly intimate in public, but nor did we hide our relationship so we could comfortably openly discuss things like going back to Exton for a holiday together or holding hands in public and not care about the rumours or gossip other people might take part in. I know it might seem childish or innocent to some making a big deal out of something as small as this, but to me it meant the world to be comfortable and trusting enough to do something as small as that in public, and Velvet knew it.

"I'm sure you're right, just so long as I don't find myself thrown in anymore pools" I laughed, remembering one of my last memories of my childhood friends at my 12th birthday party.

Velvet smiled and giggled at the shared memory, while her team looked on, looking slightly confused.

"I'm sure there's a great story to go with this, but I think it'll have to wait till another time for you both to tell it to us, Velv we gotta get going, we got Peach next and their classroom is on the far side of the school." Coco said, sounding almost regretful for having to spoil the moment.

Velvet nodded at her captain "I'll see you later Simon, try to not get into too much trouble… I know you're a magnet for all kinds of mischief." She said with a laugh as she stood and left for class.

I looked at my watch, there was about 8:45am. I had professor Port up first and his classroom was one of the closest to the cafeteria, probably so the old fatty didn't have to walk far to gorge himself half to death. I decided to walk to class now and be a bit early for once rather than go see my team quickly before classes.

**That Same Time, Sienna's PoV:**

I ignored the taunting of Nyanza and Yang towards Teal and Weiss, instead choosing to spark up a conversation with Blake, one of unfortunately several Faunus at Beacon who hide their Faunus identity. As a Faunus I could detect their tell-tale Faunus scent, even if the humans couldn't, the Faunus of Beacon would never rat out those among us who pretended to be human to avoid the glares and discrimination that came with being a Faunus, so instead we just gave covert support and opened a listening ear to any problems they had, and they did the same to us as much as they could.

I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Simon walking away, his head down, not looking our way. I could almost see the stress lines on his face from here, I frowned, he might have been quiet enough to not wake Teal or Nyanza, but not me… I'd heard his troubled breathing and light tossing as his mind tortured him then his almost silent footsteps as he left the dorm for nearly 2 hours.

"Hey, you ok Sienna?" Blake asked, looking up from her current book.

"Huh, oh yeah. Sorry Blake, just concerned about my partner. He didn't sleep well, nightmares." I said in a very soft whisper that only the two of us could hear with our sensitive Faunus hearing.

"Well the trip into the _Forever Fall_ did rattle him a bit, I've never seen someone look as terrified as he did when he was hanging off that cliff." Blake replied in an identical whisper, that most Faunus used when they wanted to have a private conversation without humans listening in.

I shook my head "Wasn't that, he's had nightmares ever since he came to Beacon, sometimes loud enough to wake Teal and Nyanza up." I said, I knew Simon would probably flay me living if he found out I was talking to someone about his problems, but I thought Blake could have some advice for me, she might not like socialising but she is very perceptive and observant.

Blake tilted her head "Try talking to Weiss, explain to her you're worried and maybe she'll help, other than that I'm not sure I'll be much help, Simon doesn't seem to like me that much." Blake replied, I had to admit she was right, Simon had some hostility and a standoffish attitude towards the girl I was talking to, but no one could really work out why, it was one of many questions I intended on answering before we all went off for our two week break.

"I'll do that, the _Ice-Queen_ knows him best and could help, even if she is bratty as all hell. Also I don't think Simon has anything against you personally, he just tends to be quite distant ant standoffish to almost everyone." I replied, I like the other Faunus didn't really like Weiss and I tried to ignore her as much as I could so I could talk to Blake, make sure she was coping in dealing with the offspring to what most Faunus considered an inhuman abomination, though we tried hard to not judge Weiss for her father's actions, her attitude and aura of superiority didn't help her popularity among anyone in the school, let alone with the Faunus students.

Blake just nodded, looking rather annoyed at the heiress in her team, but not wanting to say anything about it right now, I understood how she felt. Neither of the Atlesians, I did consider Simon Atlesian despite being born and raised in Vale, we were teamed with were very cold and kept at a distance from most people and could be downright hostile at times, though Simon had begun to warm up to us, and apparently Weiss had as well to team RWBY, at least to extent.

I sighed as I finished my food "I guess we should get to class, Port can be very cantankerous in the morning if we're late for his storytelling." I laughed, earning an amused eye roll from Blake as we stood to leave, Blake leading off and myself hanging back and fell into step beside Weiss.

"Morning Weiss, you got a moment?" I said as we exited the cafeteria.

Weiss looked to me, a look of mild disinterest on her face before she sighed "Fine, I got a couple moments, Port's class is nearby. What do you need?" She said, barely looking me in the eye and keeping a few feet from me.

"It's about Simon, he's been having trouble sleeping for a long while now and I was hoping you could shed some light on why, or at least help me coax the reason out of him." I said leaning in close to Weiss so I could whisper.

Weiss however backed off a couple of steps before composing herself "I don't really see it as my place to tell you anything, it's his choice whom he divulges things with." She said in a rude, superior tone.

I wanted to backhand the heiress then and their but held off on it for Simon's sake "Weiss, please: I'm his partner and I barely know anything about him, be it why he has nightmares or why he always comes back from weekends alone covered in bruises, cuts or on the brink of death. I'm his partner and it's my job to keep him alive, but in order to do that I need to know what he gets up to or why he has nightmares so I can help him." I said, still whispering but with a heated edge to my words.

Weiss looked at me and raised an eyebrow "I'll speak with him sometime over the weekend if I see him, but no promises for anything." The _Ice Queen_ said before turning on her heels and walked off for professor Port's class.

I stood there for a moment "What a fucking bitch, no wonder no one around here except Simon and the endless ball of friendliness that is Ruby like her." I muttered before I to headed off to Port's class, deciding enough was enough and I was ending this now.

**That Night, Beacon 1****st**** year dorms. Simon's PoV:**

The day had gone relatively quickly and in the afternoon Nyanza had gone out to visit his family, so it was just Teal, Sienna and myself in the dorms. I was quietly reading and listening to music, waiting for Team RWBY to get back from their outing into Vale after classes, apparently there were students from Vacuo arriving and Weiss wanted to see her competition, she was that confident she was going to make it into the tournament. I felt a tap on my leg and put down my book, I saw Sienna sitting down by the edge of my bed and Teal was standing up near the head of the bed.

"Simon, I talked to Teal. And we decided that you need to come clean with us." Sienna started.

I looked on neutrally, feeling kind of awkward being the object of this intervention.

"About everything: Your activities up in Atlas, what you do away on weekends that nearly gets you killed. How you came to be in the service of the Schnees, everything Simon and we aren't taking excuses, not anymore!" Teal said firmly.

I sat up and put my back up against the wall, I felt like I was now at my own firing squad. I should have known my team would have grown a spine and cornered me over this. "Ok, Ok, fine…. I was going to tell you guys this weekend anyway, but there's a few people missing that need to be here as well, they need to hear this as well." I replied, sounding exasperated and claustrophobic.

Sienna got real close to my face and jabbed a finger into my chin "Ok, Nyanza comes back tomorrow and I'm sure it won't be too hard to get Velvet over here. But then you're going to start talking. We've all had it with your secrets and lies. We're your team and we make every effort for you and we know you put in a lot of work for us as well and we appreciate that, you're our friend and we just can't sit by as you tear yourself to pieces for reasons we can't fathom to guess. Please just trust us enough to open up to us." Sienna said, her eyes pleading with me to stop keeping them in the dark.

I smiled at my teammate for showing she did care, Teal as well. I resisted the urge to reach out and scratch Sienna's ears as I knew it was a big taboo to do so if you weren't immediate family or an intimate partner, neither of which I certainly qualified as. "I'll try Sienna, though fair warning you may not like some of the skeletons in my closet, none of you will." I said with an ominous tone as I looked out the window of our Dorm and saw the bullheads flying in, with it Team RWBY. I sighed and got up from my bed "Hey girls, you mind just giving me a few minutes alone?" I asked sincerely.

Sienna nodded "Ok, but don't go trying to leap out the window to escape, it is a 4 storey fall if you do." She said jokingly, trying to defuse some of the tension, it didn't work really and we were all stuck in an awkward silence until the two girls left.

As soon as I was alone I chucked on my casual outfit with a hoodie and then reached under my bed where a lockbox sat. Grabbing it out I input a pin code then scanned my thumbprint then placed it near my face and spoke into the small microphone "Minomelo", with that the lid popped open to reveal many relics from my _Black Fist _days: My identification patches for my uniform, my dog tags, my journal and the photo of Blake and Schwarzer. Grabbing the latter two of the items I closed and locked the lockbox before replacing it under my bed and tucking the two into pocket of the hoodie before walking out the door, finding Sienna and Teal just waiting in the halls. I nodded to them and left the door ajar as I walked down the halls towards Team RWBY's dorm. As I got near it I saw Blake dash out of the dorm and run straight past be towards the exit stairs, her head in her hands.

"Oh fuck, what happened?" I said absentmindedly as I watched the black haired Faunus disappear from view.

"What happened? SHE'S A FAUNUS! And what's worse is she's a member of those scum, the _white Fang _that you spent years wiping off the face of Remnant." I heard Weiss screech angrily from the doorway.

"She's a Faunus huh? Well I could have told you that from day 1" I replied before my mind could catch up with what I was saying.

"YOU KNEW? You knew this and didn't tell ME?" Weiss screeched again, high pitched enough to make my ears sore.

It was then that I realised what I'd said "Well shit, my life just got a new level of complicated?!" I said exasperatedly, knowing this was going to be a very long weekend….

**A/N:** Hi all, I decided to split this chapter in two, just so you'd get something now and then another this weekend (I actually will keep this deadline…. Man how have I not flunked out of uni yet with deadline keeping skills like mine).

So what's everyone's opinions on Volume 3 so far? I'm loving it, Rooster Teeth is doing very well by Monty and his dream with this Volume. Can't I wait to see the shitfights in episode 3 between Winter &amp; Qrow, Neptune &amp; Weiss and maybe Winter or Mr Schnee &amp; Weiss? –CC signing off.


	48. No Black and White, Only Grey pt2

**A/N: **I finished this chapter several days ago, but given the content within it I decided to hold off on releasing it as a mark of respect to all the victims of the terror attacks in Paris over the weekend past. My thoughts and sympathies go out to those who lost their lives and the families they leave behind.

I, Australia and the entire world stand with Paris. _**Vive La France! Vive La Liberté!**_

**Chapter 47: There is no Black and White, Only Grey Part 2. Friday Night, RWBY's dorm. Simon's PoV:**

"Simon, how long have you known that Blake was a Faunus?" Weiss asked accusingly after I'd entered their dorm room to avoid causing a scene, or any more of a scene.

"Since the first day of Beacon." I replied, not wanting to say the full truth until after we'd found Blake, I didn't need to explain this more than once, it was better to have everyone in front of me when I came clean, so I didn't end up with a knife in my back.

"Well did you know she was one of those degenerates of the _White Fang_? What if she tried to assassinate me? You're meant to be my bodyguard!" Weiss chided me angrily.

"Ummm Weiss, I don't think she is a member of it anymore. Besides if she wanted to hurt you, she could have done so easily anytime in the last 4 months." Yang pointed out, the blonde brawler for once using logic.

"Quiet you, it is a legitimate concern! Why didn't you tell me?" Weiss questioned me, looking very threatening, well as threatening as someone like Weiss could.

"Because I didn't know she was in the _White Fang_, only that she was a Faunus, hardly something to concern you with…. She would have told you eventually, though probably under less heated circumstances." I replied, trying to defuse the situation.

Ruby was in tears by this point. "W-we gotta go find Blake, she could be in trouble out there by herself!" She sniffled, tears running down her puffed up cheeks.

"She's a big girl, I'm sure she's just off running back to her _White Fang_ friends to report back everything she's learnt about Beacon." Weiss said accusingly, acting as both judge and jury.

"Weiss, I don't think she'll go anywhere near the _Fang_. I bet any money she's a deserter, and the things the _White Fang_ do to their deserters is not pretty whatsoever, things too horrible to describe in front of Ruby." I rebuked my friend, as much as I considered Weiss a sibling, she was being far too bitchy and self-righteous about this.

Weiss looked at me in a very confused manner "Simon, I can't believe you're defending her… you know more than anyone what the Murderers in the _White Fang _are like!"

I raised my hands "Weiss, just calm down and get some sleep, all may not be as it seems in this situation. Tomorrow we'll all convene and try to find her, once we do we'll give her a chance to explain herself before you condemn her Weiss, give her the benefit of the doubt as you did me." I ordered my friend, I was not going to condemn Blake for being in the _Fang_ if indeed she was, it would be hypocritical of me, and I honestly felt guilty about her being in that situation. _'Maybe losing her father pushed her into it, maybe she joined because of me?'_ a small voice in my mind whispered, giving me pangs of guilt.

Weiss huffed and made her way towards the bathroom, grabbing her nightgown as she did "Fine, I'm going to try and calm down, but don't think I'm letting her off the hook until Blake's given us a proper explanation! And if I'm not satisfied by it I'll expect she face justice for any crimes she has committed" She said as she slammed the door in a huff.

I turned to the sisters, specifically Ruby who was still sniffling and looking distraught "Don't worry Ruby, we'll find her before any harm befalls her." I said sincerely, though unsure if it really was a promise I could keep.

"I hope so, she's my friend and I'd hate for something to happen to her. I just want us all to get along as a Team." She said despondently.

"Trust me, it'll be alright Ruby, just get a good night's rest and you, your team and SNST can go and look for her in the morning, I got some friends in Vale who can help out if need be as well." I reassured the young reaper, she didn't need to know my contacts were Valean Head Hunters and a _Cipher Agent_ who worked for an organisation which operated often outside the bounds of the laws of the land.

Ruby looked up at me, a weak smile "Really, you'd help us find her?"

"Of course I will help, now I'd better go before my team sends out a search party for me. Weiss has my scroll frequency if you need to reach me or if Blake turns up in my search." I said as I turned and exited the door.

I'd only gotten a few steps when I heard the door open behind me again, stepping out was Yang, I was instantly on guard because Yang and I hadn't exactly had the best history, especially when I'd hospitalised Blake. "Yes Yang?" I asked curiously, wondering why the elder sister had followed me out.

"Simon, I'm honestly confused right now. The way you verbally slapped down Weiss, your best friend in defence of Blake, someone you seem to dislike immensely and avoid any and all interaction with, despite her saving your life. Even more confusing, and a little disconcerting is you knew she was a Faunus. That isn't why you dislike her I hope?" Yang said with a disapproving frown, assuming I was some sort of racist…. Or more to the point I still was some sort of racist.

"Yang, My avoidance and indifference to Blake isn't because I don't like her, or I hate Faunus. It isn't anything like that at all, I have no ill-feelings or hostility towards Blake whatsoever. I have my reasons for keeping my distance from Blake and once we find her and get her back to Beacon safe and sound, I'll explain all, then it'll make perfect sense to you." I replied, trying to not give anything away because I didn't doubt Yang's ability to end my existence if I told her the truth and she didn't like what she heard.

Yang moved some hair out of her face, looking even more confused "Then what about that match in combat class? You knocked her unconscious and looked like you were about to kill her! That points towards some kind of deeply ingrained hostility." Yang said exasperatedly.

I looked down at the ground, remembering my mind playing tricks on me that day, I felt ashamed at myself for nearly killing Blake that day. "I had a brain snap that day, I wasn't myself Yang. I promise I pose no threat to your _Partner_." I said, putting a suggestive emphasis on the word 'partner', just to throw Yang off guard and put me in control of this conversation, I hated not controlling the flow of a conversation.

Yang however didn't miss a beat, probably immune to shame or embarrassment, instead walking up close and putting a hand on my shoulder "Ok, I'll trust you Simon, only because you prove your sincerity by talking down Weiss and consoling my sister. Though I think you will owe Blake a serious apology when we do find her. Goodnight Simon." Yang replied before turning and walking back to her dorm to try and cheer her sister up and keep Weiss from making an already bad situation worse.

I stood there for a moment "You have no idea how big or serious an apology I owe her Yang, you really don't" I muttered before I made my way back towards the SNST dorm, looking down at the photo of Blake and her father as I went, hoping Blake's survival instincts kept her safe till we could find her.

I made my way back to the dorms and found Sienna and Teal sitting up talking. Both looked at me and saw the stress etched on my face, both looked very concerned at me but it was Sienna who spoke first "Simon, what's wrong?" She asked hesitantly, not sure she would get an answer.

I looked away, not sure if I should say anything to the girls, but I knew I'd need their help so for better or worse they'd have to be let in on this "Blake's taken off from Beacon, it seems Weiss found out about her Faunus heritage and was none to impressed about it. So tomorrow and the next day and every spare moment we have we're headed into Vale to find her." I responded, as went to my bed and collapsed into it.

Sienna gasped, now worried for her fellow Faunus, while Teal looked somewhat confused "Wait, she was a Faunus? And how did you know? You don't seem at all shocked by this revelation!" Teal said, being all too smart for her own good right now.

"That is one of the many questions that will be answered when we find her Teal, so let's just focus on that." I said firmly, I didn't snap but I spoke firmly, like a leader should.

Sienna walked over and sat beside me "Simon, is she in any danger? You seem pretty worried about this."

"Maybe, if she's smart she should be fine but it seems I'm not the only one around here who's been keeping secrets, so we gotta work fast. Girls get some sleep, I'll be waking you both early to head into Vale. Call it our first real mission as a team." I said as I took off my boots and laid down, not even bothering to take off my hoodie or other clothes, it didn't really bother me I'd slept in way more uncomfortable places.

**The Next Morning, Vale. Simon's PoV:**

We were on the dawn Bullhead into Vale, it was quite cramped Team RWY aboard as well. We were all fully geared in combat outfits with full stocks of ammunition for Sienna and I and Dust for Teal's dust whip. It was the first time in a long while I'd worn my combat fatigues and body armour into Vale, I even had the thermal goggles from Gregory sitting atop my helmet in case we had to keep looking through the night.

"Ok, Teal, go get Nyanza from his family then Search through the northern Commercial areas. Sienna and I will look through the Southern part of the Commercial District. Girls, you search through as much of the Agricultural district as you can, there's plenty of boltholes around there for a stray to hide in. Each of us have everyone else's scroll frequency so keep in contact if anyone has any information about Blake or has seen her." I said, taking command of the situation, just like Ty would have.

Looking around the bullhead I got nods from everyone except for Weiss who had a look of mild disgust etched across her face, she didn't want to be here and had made perfectly clear. I just hoped Yang would keep her in line, because Ruby really didn't hold the appropriate authority over Weiss to make her actually put some effort into finding Blake.

The Bullhead landed at the a landing pad in the middle of Vale's commerce district, filled with shops, malls and markets of every type you could imagine from food to Dust, from lumber and hardware to clothes and retail as well as Vale's largest library. Myself, Teal and Sienna jumped off and waved goodbye to RWY as the bullhead took back off to take them to Vale's agricultural district which supplied Vale with much of its fruit and vegetables from hydroponic greenhouses, though the outer colonies still supplied most of the meat and fruits and vegetables unable to be farmed in greenhouses.

"So what's the plan Simon? Why have you got us down here so early?" Sienna asked, pointing out the almost deserted street, only a few shopkeepers opening a bakery and a newspaper stand and a seemingly homeless man curled up beneath a waiting shelter at the landing pad, however I knew better.

"You two wait here a moment, my contact is waiting for us, he's kinda a hermit and doesn't trust new faces." I said as I walked towards the apparently homeless man, but it was really _Minder-27_, Gregory was probably elsewhere on some sort of mission, but he'd managed to free up his Minder to come out and assist me if possible.

"Morning you ugly old shit, lost anymore Bullheads recently?" I said jovially to the disguised _Intelligence Agent_, I'd heard a rumour that 1 in 3 homeless people you saw in the streets of Vale was actually a _Minder_ agent keeping an unseen and unnoticed eye on the population, another one of Keeper's morally grey operations to keep Vale safe from harm if it was true.

_Minder-27_ simply looked at me, an annoyed expression on his face "Shut up Legate, that incident was not in the least bit funny. Keeper ripped me a new one for losing a 500,000 Lien VTOL aircraft. Now, why did you call me here on this chilly morning?" The agent asked, getting right to business as most of these intelligence types did.

I rummaged for my scroll and brought up a photo of Blake "I need Gregory and yourself to see if you can get a location of this girl, she's a Beacon student who went missing last night and may be in danger from the _White Fang _&amp; _Black Fist_ if either group manages to capture her." I said in a monotone voice.

_Minder-27_ took out his scroll and got a copy of the image "I imagine you want this kept off the official records and no background checks on her being done by fellow agents?" He asked as he began shooting the photo off in messages to various other agents and assets.

"About as much as Gregory and I would want a background check ran on us." I replied flatly, it was all the information that _Minder_ needed about the type of trouble Blake was in.

"I'll not give a name, just the photo and an instruction to report her location but not to approach until you get there, just to avoid any unfortunate mishaps with confronting a Huntress-in-Training who might be inclined to shoot first. You'll owe us for this Legate, and I'm sure Keeper will be eager to collect, given your skillset." _Minder_ responded as he tapped his concealed scroll, sending the message off to 100's of agents across Vale. "I'll contact you if anyone finds anything, good luck on your search Simon, I'll pass Gregory your regards when I see him." _Minder-27_ said, using my real name for the first time ever as he returned to his fake drunken stupor, our conversation over.

To keep up with appearances I dropped him 10 Lien and walked back over to the girls, both of which looked thoroughly confused with me "Ummm who's that?" Teal asked, looking over to where _Minder_ was stumbling out of the landing area.

"Friend of a friend who has many friends who will help us find our friend. Now say that five times really fast." I said light-heartedly, trying to keep my team's spirits up.

"Ok, well now what's the plan?" Sienna asked as we walked out and towards a street full of cheap hostels, near to one of Vale's several clubbing districts.

"We check the hostel receptions for bookings under her name and check with the staff for anyone fitting her description, after that we'll go get Nyanza and split up." I said walking confidently, checking every face I saw for Blake.

"Umm Simon, I don't know if you thought this through properly" Sienna said.

"Yeah, the hostel staff aren't just going to hand that information over and cooperate with you." Teal continued.

I however just chuckled "Oh, leave that to me. I have my ways." I replied, subconsciously tapping the credentials in one of the pouches of my webbing, supplied to me by Gregory that marked me as a member of _Vale Intelligence_, just showing them to a staff member should put enough fear into them to get the information I needed.

As we arrived at the first hostel I turned to the girls "You two wait outside and ask anyone who passes by if they've seen Blake, I'll go check inside." I ordered, before running up the stairs, not giving the girls any chance to protest.

Walking in the door I saw the staff area was behind what looked to be bullet proof glass, obviously some rowdy people stayed here.

The attendant, a middle aged woman with greying hair cleared her throat "Morning, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave, no weapons allowed here unless you're a police officer on official business, and judging from your attire you're certainly not a police officer." The attendant said, her hand reaching for a phone to ring the Police.

I opened up a pouch and extracted the _Intelligence_ credentials and tossed them into a small tray to be passed to her "Oh, I think you'll find that I have the authority to carry arms in here. And I think you'll also be cooperating with me on my business here." I said casually, but with a threatening edge.

The attendant's face began to drain of its colour as she saw what I'd handed her: essentially a licence to do as I saw fit to complete my mission. "Ye-yes, right away. What do you need from us?" She stuttered as she placed the credentials back into the tray and pushed them back to me.

Taking the credentials I took out my scroll and produced a photo of Blake. "Have you seen this woman in or around your hostel at any point last night?" I said in a flat monotone.

The attendant studied the photo for a moment "I've been here for the last 12 hours and I haven't seen anyone like that come through unfortunately."

I nodded "Ok, well I thank you for your assistance and cooperation. I think I needn't remind you to wipe your security cameras of my presence here." I said as I turned and walked out, the entire exchange taking all of about 3 minutes.

The girls were waiting for me, waving goodbye to a group of runners. I simply began walking towards the next hostel, the girls quickly fell into step beside me.

"So, I'm guessing you didn't find her, or they didn't cooperate?" Teal said.

I shrugged "They cooperated all right, but no Blake to be found, so we'll keep checking all of these hostels for her, but just keep waiting outside and asking people u see if they have seen her. And if the Hostels have no record of her then we start looking at Cafés or eateries, especially 24 hour ones. We WILL find her." I said determinedly, not willing to even let the possibility of the _Fist _or _Fang_ finding her first slip into my mind, the consequences of which were unthinkable.

**Several Hours Later, Downtown Vale. Simon's PoV:**

"We've been searching all morning and still no sign of her in any hostel or eatery, not even Vale's central Library!" Teal said despondently as we finally sat down for lunch at Nyanza's family's diner, we'd been put upstairs in the flat the family lived in above the shop for privacy, at my request.

"We've only searched a small portion of the city, still plenty more places to look." I said as I sat down to drink some coffee and eat a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs.

"Simon. In case you haven't noticed: Vale is a city of over 10 million people, 2 million of which are Faunus, we're searching for a piece of hay in a giant stack of needles! And that's before we even factor in the possibility that Blake has already left the city for the outer colonies, then you got another 2-3 million people including a million Faunus living outside the city boundaries in the outer colonies of Vale." Sienna explained.

"Not helping Sienna!" I snapped quietly. I turned to Nyanza who hadn't said a word in all the 10 minutes he'd been sitting with us "Nothing to say Nyanza? I think that might be a record?" I said jokingly.

"No, not right now… This is kinda overwhelming and confusing. Blake a Faunus, Simon defending her against Weiss and now leading the search for her. I go away for 1 bloody day and the entire place goes crazy!" Nyanza commented.

"Heh, trust me by the time we graduate, this will probably seem mundane and routine." I responded as I ate my food quickly, eager to continue the search. "After we leave we'll split up to cover more ground. Teal and Nyanza, go search for her in the South-East of the Commercial District, Sienna and I will search for her in the South West of the district." I said between mouthfuls.

I felt my scroll buzz in my pocket. I immediately looked at it: a message from Gregory. Opening it I read:

_Simon, Keeper is mildly annoyed you're using your Intelligence Credentials outside of official operations, he's gotten 3 different complaints of a 'heavily armed agent harassing hostel staff.' I managed to calm him down by explaining you're hunting a potential White Fang fugitive. So yeah try in future to refrain from such actions, I can't bail you out too many times._

_Also, No luck on finding your friend, she seems quite adept at avoiding being found, but I and any other agent will keep an eye out for her while going about our other duties –Gregory._

I sighed _'Dammit Blake, why you gotta be so good at not being found.'_ I thought as I continued eating my food, concern that we might not find the bowed huntress before something bad befell her.

**That Afternoon, Lachlan's PoV:**

It was the first time in at least 3 months since I'd set foot inside the city of Vale itself, I had to admit it was good to be in civilisation again, even if that civilisation was corrupt and rotting on the inside from insidious Faunus influences. I sat in the back of an inconspicuous sedan going over a target list that Cinder had supplied to me, it was copies of documents meant for _Intelligence_, showing locations of weapons caches.

"Would be nice if we could also take out a few deserters, Killing Simon and Gregory would be the perfect way to begin this revolution." Levi said from the driver's seat.

I looked up from my notes "You might get your chance at the agent, I imagine when we make our move the Keeper will send his _Ciphers_ out to us. I don't think you'll get Simon, this time though. Besides we are trying to inflict minimal human casualties, we don't need to cause a bloodbath of those we're trying to save from themselves and their naïve idealism." I explained as I finalised our plans for tomorrow night when the streets would once again run red like roses.

"Yeah well you're certainly expecting a fight, otherwise you wouldn't have brought _The Ghost_." Levi said, referring to the third passenger in the vehicle: a silent young man with tanned skin, blue eyes and curly black hair that was cut short, he wasn't a proper member of the _Black Fist_, more like a mercenary who was sent to us by Cinder, he rarely if at all spoke or did anything but go off and train by himself. He honestly reminded me a bit of Simon when he was hunting Schwarzer when he was obsessed and consumed by it.

"Of course I'm expecting a fight, we're hitting _White Fang_ weapon caches and the homes of officers and members of several of the _Fang's_ different factions who reside outside the _Faunus Quarter_, but we got to be careful to not kill human civilians. That goes for both of you, especially you Ghost. I know your penchant for leaving no survivors." I warned as we pulled into the motel we were to be staying at, it was cheap and close to the neighbourhood I was personally going to lead the _Fist _into.

I walked into the office and saw the attendant was a deer Faunus, I resisted the urge to physically rip her antlers out of her head and stab her to death with them as I put on a faux smile and asked for the key to the room I'd booked for us to use tonight, using the minimal amount of speaking I quickly left as soon as I got the key, I felt honestly sick that the money I'd paid to the motel was going towards paying a filthy freak like her when a human could easily do the job better. I looked at the time, it was late afternoon, and only about 30 hours until our crusade truly began. I smiled genuinely this time as I began helping Levi and Ghost move our gear into the room, making a mental note to dispose of the Faunus attendant if she was on duty when we left.

**That Night, SNST Dorm. Simon's PoV:**

It had been a long and fruitless day, neither us, nor RWY or any member of _Intelligence_ had found her or any trace of her so far. I sat on my bed with a highlighter and a map of Vale, marking off the areas we'd searched so far. I was using my night vision goggles to do my work so as to not disturb Nyanza or Teal who were already asleep.

"Simon, get some sleep, you've been on the move constantly for the better part of 15 hours." Sienna said as she laid down to get some rest before we went back out in the morning to continue searching.

"I'll be fine, I've pushed myself much harder than this before. You guys just get some rest, I got to plan out tomorrow's search." I responded, not looking up from my map, I was more vacantly staring at it by this point, trying to work out what to do, the doubt and guilt was seeping into my mind and I was now considering that we might be too late to find Blake.

All of a sudden the map was ripped from my hands, my partner standing over me. "Sleep Simon, you might be the captain, but you're my partner so it's my job to make sure you don't die and burn yourself out to the point that you're useless as a leader or a combatant." Sienna said firmly as she folded the map and put it on the desk in the dorm.

I frowned, but relented. Sienna was right, I couldn't allow myself to burn out and become sloppy or too emotionally invested in this, despite I'd crossed that line immediately upon seeing Blake take off. But I couldn't allow it to get to a point that I'd negligently endanger myself or my team or team RWBY. So I reluctantly laid my head down and fell into a fitful, shallow sleep.

**Sunday, Mid-Morning. Yang Xiao Long's PoV:**

I was angry and I was confused, but mostly I was concerned. Not just for Blake's safety but also for my baby sister, Ruby. She had been distraught since Blake had run away and had cried herself to sleep worrying about her last night. It had been two days now and even with the help of SNST we hadn't found any trace of our friend, my partner. And to make matters worse: Weiss was still acting so self-righteous and like a snobby brat about this, completely ignoring the danger Blake could be in. even Simon was mad at her, though he didn't show it.

"Ok, Ruby, Yang, and Weiss: You three check through the industrial district. Start inland and make your way towards the docks. I and SNST will look through the residential district." Simon said firmly and determinedly as the bullhead landed, depositing his team in Vale's residential district to continue their search while we flew over to the industrial district.

As we flew Ruby just sat staring out the small window, looking out over the city of Vale, I could feel the stress and worry emanating off of her as we flew.

"Ruby, we'll find her. Stop worrying so much." I sing songed, trying to improve my sister's mood.

"I hope so." Ruby whispered, unsure if she really believed me. The rest of the flight was silent and uneventful, except for Weiss filing her nails and looking thoroughly disinterested in finding Blake. Part of me wanted to toss the uptight brat out the aircraft, but I knew that would upset Ruby too much so I refrained from murdering Weiss at this point.

**1 Hour Later. Vale industrial district. Yang's PoV:**

"Blaaaake!" Ruby and I shouted one after another

"Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare yoooouuuu!?" Ruby continued to yell, a small crack of emotion seeping through as she began to get desperate to find Blake, and I had to admit I to was starting to fear for Blake.

"Weiss, you're not helping!" Ruby whined to the silent member of our team while I kept looking around for Blake.

Weiss just shrugged with a huff "Oh! You know what might be able to help? The police!" she suggested, still adamant that Blake was guilty of something.

Ruby crossed her arms and gave Weiss a most disapproving look, it was the angriest I'd seen Ruby in a very long time "Ugh, Weiss!"

"What? It was just an idea! You can't expect us to find her with just the 3 of us and SNST?" Weiss said in a condescending tone.

"Doesn't change the fact it's a horrible idea!" Ruby huffed at her bitchy partner before turning and walking down the street in a supremely grumpy mood.

I turned to Weiss and walked backwards, trying to defuse the tension threatening to ruin our team's trust. "Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions. We don't know what she meant by what she said." I said, hoping Weiss would come down from her high horse and see that Blake.

Weiss was following me and shook her head "I know what she said and when we hear her explanation you'll see that I was right." Weiss snapped, shaking her head, making her off-centre pony tail wave in the wind.

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!" A familiar voice said from behind Weiss.

'_Oh no… NOT HER!' _my mind screamed as I jumped back to see the orange haired and honestly strange Penny standing behind us.

I stood there stunned as I heard my sister yelp in surprise and mild fear "Penny! Where did you come from!?" Ruby asked, her voice going an octave or two higher in pitch.

"Hey Guys! What are you up to?" The oblivious redhead said happily.

Ruby was at this point lost for words so I stepped in to save her from embarrassment. "We're looking for our friend Blake." I responded, hoping to not give too much away to the stranger.

Penny's eyes lit up in recognition "Ooooh you mean the Faunus girl right?"

All of us stood there looking stunned, Penny had met Blake for all of about 5 minutes and she'd worked out what had taken us 3 months to work out. _'Man, now I really feel dumb… she knows my partner better than I do'_ I thought sadly.

Ruby was the first to regain her composure and looked curiously at Penny "Wait, how did you know that?"

Penny tilted her head and pointed at the top of her head "Uhh the cat ears?" she said, her tone making us all sound like idiots.

"Cat ears? But Blake wears a Bow-ooooooh" I said, realising how she'd hidden it from us for so long, she wore it even when she slept.

I had to stifle a giggle when Ruby leaned to me and whispered to me "She does like tuna a lot..."

Penny looked on curiously "So, where is she? Are you guys playing hide and seek?" The girl said obliviously, I swear she had a few screws loose this one… probably hit her head when Weiss knocked her over.

Ruby looked saddened as she faced the redhead "We don't know. She's been missing since Friday."

Penny gasped in horror and rushed up to Ruby, grabbing her on the shoulders "Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!" She said excitedly and determinedly.

I used this moment when Penny had her back to myself to quickly dart across the road, Weiss close behind. _'Sorry Rubes but you made her your friend so you can get to know her better alone.'_ I thought as I made my escape, but now stuck with the _Ice Queen_ who was walking just behind me. I could almost feel her arrogant indifference radiating off of her. I sighed and began walking into various shops to ask about if they had seen Blake at all. Weiss just followed in silence, seemingly aloof.

After about the 5th shop we'd visited, finding no answers I swung around to face Weiss who was looking around the street nonchalantly. "You really don't care if we find her do you Weiss?" I said angrily, the urge to smack the superior, disinterested look off her face.

Weiss looked up at me and shook her head "Don't be stupid Yang. I do care, I do want to find her. But I'm afraid of what we'll find out when we do find her and we do get her side of the story. The innocent don't run Yang." Weiss said as she walked ahead.

"Weiss, still. You're being far too cold and distant about this, you've condemned Blake before even hearing her side! What if it were Simon who'd been outed as a member of, what was that group Oobleck taught us about, ah that's right, _The Black Fist_. What if instead of a merc he was one of them and was on the run after being found out? Would you condemn him before hearing his explanation like you are with Blake?" I asked as a hypothetical question to show Weiss how much of a hypocrite she was being.

**Weiss' PoV: **

I stopped, frozen in place facing away from Yang lest the look of disbelief on my face out my friend for what he really was. But Yang's question had the effect on me that the blonde brute desired. The way Simon was acting about all this: Telling me off on Friday night then leading the search for Blake now made perfect sense. He emphasised with her, he knew what she was going through. I was still unsure how he had found out she was a Faunus, but at this point it didn't matter. I knew I was going about this wrong, if it was Simon out there on the run I'd be doing everything I could to find him, not brooding and being dragged around against my will.

I sighed, I hated the fact Yang was correct about this, but I wasn't going to admit that. "Yang. Simon wouldn't run, he'd have stood there and explained everything to us, Blake running makes her suspicious, but I will give her a fair hearing when we do find her. Now come on, we still have a lot of city to look over." I said as I walked off, my mind swimming with many conflicted thoughts.

**Vale Residential District, that night. Simon's PoV:**

After having spent the day split up into our pairs searching, SNST had met up for a small meal before we returned to Beacon, without having found Blake, not even my friends in _Intelligence_ could find her.

"Where is she?! How can she have just disappeared without a trace like this?" I wondered out aloud, the stress obvious in my voice and probably written across the furrows in my forehead and around my eyes.

Sienna looked up from her food "Have you heard from Ruby or Yang? Maybe they've found her?" She offered half-heartedly.

I put on a weak smile "Thanks Sienna, but if they haven't we're going to have to involve Ozpin and the police in this officially, even if it does complicate things when we find her." I responded as I sipped at some coffee when in the distance I heard a loud _BANG_.

I looked up and at my team "There isn't any pre-Vytal festival fireworks tonight is there?" I asked, specifically asking Nyanza given his family lived in the next neighbourhood over.

"Nope, nothing was advertised." Nyanza asked, before another loud _BANG_ was heard, followed by several smaller _Bangs_.

"That's automatic gunfire!" Teal said, stating the now obvious.

We all immediately stood and left the café, running towards where the sound was coming. It was somewhat distant, I estimated at least 300, maybe 400m away. We ran as quickly as we could, I put on my helmet as I ran and made sure that all my weapons were easily accessible, ready to fight for real, my first real combat with my new team. To say I was now scared was an understatement but I didn't let it show, I was scared I could be leading one of my team to serious injury or even death, I guess this is how Ty felt whenever we boarded the bullheads on a mission.

We heard yelling and several more gunshots as we rounded the corner to see several black vans and smashed doors at houses. On the streets I saw men, men in Black, wearing patches that had a Black fist crushing a white fang in its grip.

"Oh no." I whispered to myself as I skidded to a halt behind a small crowd of people who had gathered. I took my helmet off and put it on Sienna's head to try and hide her ears.

"Hey!" Sienna whispered as she tried to remove the Kevlar helmet, only for me to hold it in place.

"All of you, do as I say, when I say. Try to move through this crowd, do not draw weapons till we're at the front." I whispered as I began pushing through the gathered crowd. I could hear someone yelling, as I got closer to the front I saw who it was, someone I'd not really wanted to meet again: Lachlan Mclean, former member of _Rum Squad_, the man who'd taught be the finer points of torture.

He had a man, dressed in a _White Fang_ uniform tied to a lamp post, there looked to be about two dozen _Black Fist_ troopers, as well as Levi, Lachlan and someone else in what looked like a heavily modified EOD suit. Some of the troopers were moving a large amount of weapons out of a house whose door had been blown apart into their vans and some were guarding a scared young family of Faunus, probably the wife and kids of the man tied to the light post. Most were lightly equipped with black clothing, SMG's, sawn-off shotguns and webbing, complete with a black balaclava.

"Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lachlan, former loyal soldier of Vale. Now the loyal commander of humanities first line of defence against these Faunus scum… The _Black Fist_. Many of you grew up in this neighbourhood, oblivious to the fact that right under your noses lived a villainous piece of filth that fought to destroy the natural order and install the Faunus as your overlords and masters!" Lachlan ranted to the crowd, maybe 100 strong.

I saw Sienna reach for her axe. I grabbed her arm "Not yet, keep edging forward, and wait for my signal." I said firmly as I pushed into the 3rd row of the crowd. Sienna growled and relented, and edged forward, keeping behind me and keeping my helmet on to hide her ears.

I listened back into Lachlan's rant. "As you can see, he had weapons hidden in his house, weapons that thanks to us will never be turned against you, his innocent neighbours! The Government of Vale is soft on the thousands of militant Faunus living among us, I fought at _Ruben Fields_ four years ago when the _White Fang_ slaughtered hundreds of brave men and women from the 1st Mobile and 3rd Airborne Regiments, yet the Vale council never brought those responsible to justice and instead appeased the Faunus and continued to allow them free movement and no surveillance by _Intelligence_ who seems more busy with terrorising hard working and innocent humans. This is the result, murderers and anarchists spreading fear and destruction through Vale hiding right under your noses, masquerading as your neighbours. Well from tonight onwards, _The Black Fist _will protect you all from the scourge of the _White Fang_ and their Faunus sympathisers. We start tonight, and we start with this man!" Lachlan said as he draw his pistol.

"Shit, Nyanza. Now!" I yelled as I charged forward, rudely shoving people out of the way to get in front of the crowd.

Nyanza immediately raised his arm and launched a ballistic knife, not having the time to draw and ready his new pistols. The blade sped through the air at just under the speed of sound and lodged in Lachlan's forearm, as the four of us emerged from the crowd, Sienna tossing me back my helmet which I placed back on my head before I drew _Umbra Vigilans_, setting it to its bladed mode, too many civilians around to risk using the flechettes.

"Lachlan you Bastard!" I yelled out to my former comrade turned number 1 target.

Lachlan looked up at me, eyes lighting up in recognition, then a gruesome, twisted smile twitched at his lips and an evil chuckle emanated from his throat as he physically ripped the blade from his forearm. "Hello Simon, it certainly has been a long time…. Atlas' capital if I believe, just before you deserted from your post and ran away from your obligations to our noble company. I believe you've already been reacquainted with my new XO, Levi? He's been oh so wanting to see you again Simon… you owe us a debt, payable in the blood of you and that filthy Faunus beside you." Lachlan said evilly as his men raised their weapons and Levi his tomahawks as the crowd of people ran away to safety. I saw the unknown member of their party just stand there, a riot shield and a Warhammer in his hands, but he looked to be just passively observing the scene, like a freaking ghost.

"You try to touch my teammates and I'll rip you and all your men limb from limb Lachlan, and don't think I can't…. you've seen me in action more than enough times to know what I'm capable of." I replied with a snarl as I stepped forward, placing myself between my team and the _Black Fist _soldiers.

I could almost see the confusion on my team's faces behind me at me knowing Lachlan, and my threats of extreme violence, but they were too focused on the situation at hand to say anything. In the distance I heard many more explosions and gunshots, it seemed this wasn't the only attack the _Fist _were involved with tonight.

Lachlan smirked "Boys, kill those two. But capture the Faunus bitch and Simon alive… we're going to make examples of them. Now attack!" He ordered and then all hell broke loose.

The two dozen troopers all opened fire with their various weapons, killing the Faunus tied to the light post and his family before turning towards us. Sienna knelt behind her shield and returned fire with her shotgun axe, however the troopers were hiding behind cars or the brick fences around the various houses on the street and none of them there struck by her rounds. Teal was twirling on her feet, unleashing waves of dust, it was a mix of flame and rock dust, forming a lava like wave that tore through the road and destroyed two of the cars the _Black Fist_ soldiers were hiding behind, the troopers rolled out of the way and covered each other with suppressing fire as they moved to new places of cover.

However two did not make it, intercepted by Nyanza who had used his blades to swing himself up to a low rooftop and then sprung down, landing boots first in one _Fist_ soldier's ribcage, crushing the bones and puncturing the lungs of the unfortunate soldier. His buddy however charged up behind Nyanza and lashed out at Nyanza with his rifle, fitted with a bayonet. The strike never landed however, a crack of a whip was heard and a largish boulder slammed into the 2nd attacker's head, knocking him clean out but not killing him.

Nyanza looked back to Teal and shot her a thumbs up, before cartwheeling away from the two fallen _Fist_ troopers, drawing his pistols to take a few shots at Levi and the mysterious armoured figure. Levi leapt out of the fire and shot back at Nyanza with the SMG's in his tomahawks which Nyanza dodged with a backflip, while the armoured figure, merely let the bullets impact with his shield and continued to observe passively.

I had found myself leaping over one of the low walls that 3 _Black Fist_ soldiers were taking cover behind to fire at my team. "Hello boys, mind if I drop in?" I said darkly as I lunged forward, impaling the first one on the forward blade of _Umbra Vigilans_, immediately drawing it back and ducking under a slash by one soldier with a sword, as I ducked I twirled on my heels, using the momentum to slash the second enemy who had missed the slash with his sword, the rearward blade ripping into his abdomen, disembowelling the hapless enemy.

Finishing my heel spin I straightened myself up and faced the 3rd soldier, this one different from the other two: he wore Special Forces grade body armour over a uniform identical to my own rather than just black clothing with small concealable SMG's or shotguns or Carbines. No he had a large black sword, coated in dust, the same dust I'd seen used in Aura Penetrating Weapons, much like the sword that had cut right through my aura that night in the carpark. This was no regular _Black Fist_ grunt, he must be some sort of officer or elite guardsman of Lachlan's.

I flourished my weapon and charged in, blocking the downward slash of my opponent with the shaft of my staff, pushing the blade up and away from me I ducked and lunged at the enemy, tacking him to the ground, deploying my gauntlet blades and repeatedly slashing at his throat, it didn't kill him instantly, but he would bleed out in moments as his jugular was severed. I jumped up and grabbed _Umbra Vigilans_ once more, vaulting over the fence. Only to be met face to face with Levi who slashed at me with his tomahawks, I blocked both with my staff, angled diagonally as Levi swiped at me both high and low.

"Well Levi, seems you finally are getting to face me on a level playing field." I said in a snarky tone as I slammed _Umbra Vigilans'_ armoured shaft into Levi's face and retreated a few steps to get a grasp of the situation. I saw Teal and Nyanza working as a team, Teal cornered and suppressed one group, separating them from each other with walls of stone, ice and magma while Nyanza attacked the one who was separated, wounding and incapacitating them, but not killing them, leaving them to face justice for their crimes.

Levi came at me again, shooting as he charged, I absorbed the rounds with my aura and dodged his strikes, Levi over-balanced and stumbled forward, I whirled on my feet and slammed as hard as I could the metallic shaft of _Umbra Vigilans_ into the back of his head, trying to knock him out, to save him from all this, get him somewhere safe with help from psychologists to tend to his broken mind.

Looking around again I saw Sienna blast one trooper in the head with her shotgun, shortly before blocking a stab from one of the trooper's bayonets with her shield, pushing it to the side and following it up with a savage chop of her axe, into the man's side, just under his arm pit. He yelped and fell to the ground, his hands up in surrender as he screamed in pain, only for Sienna to end his pain by slamming the bottom of her shield into his neck, breaking it. Unlike Teal and Nyanza, Sienna, a Faunus was showing no quarter to those dedicated to erasing her race from the planet.

I heard a laugh "That bitch slave you got on your team has more guts than you do at least she goes for the kill… you aren't even trying against me. Weak Simon, pathetically weak of you." Levi said behind me as I stood to face him, my weapon at the ready.

This time I charged Levi, slashing at his hips. Levi blocked with one tomahawk and chopped at me with the other, it hitting my aura, draining it moderately I slid the blade of _Umbra Vigilans _blocking his 2nd tomahawk down to the ground, slamming the other end of my staff up, catching Levi off-guard in the temple. Levi stumbled and shook his head, this time I pressed my advantage, and twirling _Umbra Vigilans_ around in my hands I launched it into a horizontal strike into Levi's ribcage, once again using the shaft as point of contact, so as to not run the risk of killing him. Levi grunted as the impact knocked him breathless and to his knees.

I was about to deliver a boot to Levi's head to knock him clear out when I heard a yell of pain. Looking up I saw Sienna flying across the street, bouncing several times then skidding to a stop against a wall. I instantly abandoned my fight with Levi and made my way to my partner, Teal and Nyanza did as well.

"Sienna, are you ok?!" I said as I helped her to my feet, Teal creating a wall of stone using rock dust from her whip to protect us from the fire incoming from the remaining _Black Fist _soldiers.

Sienna coughed, "Yeah I'm fine, that guy with the hammer packs a punch, one hit from it sent me flying, must be packing at least 3000PSI of force, lucky my shield is built to withstand over 5000PSI" she said as the wall put up by Teal shattered, the armoured and masked operative wielding his hammer and shield had smashed it with one strike.

I holstered my staff and charged forward, handspringing over this armoured Ghost, grabbing onto his shoulders as I did and as I flipped over I tried to use the force to send the ghost flying, but this guy must have nearly 100kg of armour on him because he was too heavy to send flying, instead I just hit the ground behind him, my shoulders at very awkward angles as I let go and hit the ground.

The Ghost turned on me and slammed down at me with his hammer, intent on crushing my skull like a grape. But the strike didn't land, I looked up and saw the hammer suspended in mid-air, caught by a whip from Team and two ballistic tethers from Nyanza. I immediately rolled away and withdrew _Umbra Vigilans_, setting it to gun mode and unleashing a full magazine of flechettes into the armoured figure, several getting lodged in his helmet's visor, not enough to punch right through but it would at least obscure his vision. Teal and Nyanza withdrew their holds on his hammer moments before an explosive slug from Sienna sent the Ghost flying backwards, landing on top of a small car, crushing it outright, and showing how heavy his armour was.

My team and I regrouped behind a retaining wall to escape the hail of fire and grenades being directed at us from the group of still 15 or so enemies including at least two hunter trained among them, The Ghost and Levi. Sienna looked very worse for wear, a trickle of blood running down her head, I could see that Teal was beginning to run low on dust as well. The enemy were uphill from us and behind cover, but I couldn't let them escape, but I knew that we were outmatched and outgunned, especially given several of them had Aura Penetrating Blades on them. I reloaded _Umbra Vigilans_, but I heard the sounds of police sirens approaching, probably two or three minutes out. Looking out at the _Black Fist_ troopers they were now piling onto their vans and cars, probably not wanting to be seen and identified by the VPD or risk _Intelligence_ getting here with the _Head Hunters_.

I lunged over the wall with _Umbra Vigilans_ in its gun mode and I fired at the _Black Fist _soldiers, but all I hit was the Ghost's shield as he covered the escape of Lachlan and his troops. There was nothing I could do to stop them, not that I really wanted to, they would out number and outgun and probably cut down those poor police officers if I delayed them long enough to get here, then would probably cut my team down… these men were competent, and well equipped, equipped to take on huntsmen and huntresses if need be, despite not being trained as such themselves.

My team came out from the retaining wall, it was half demolished from grenade explosions. Looking around it was a gruesome scene, a dead family of Faunus, the _Fang _member still tied to the light post. At least 6 dead _Fist_ troopers and maybe another 6-10 knocked out by teal and Nyanza, not to mention small fires, a crushed care and destroyed houses, fences and walls. I looked to my team, relief washing over me that they were ok, I couldn't help myself I walked over and enveloped all 3 in a group hug.

"You guys did well, and we're all safe." I said happily as police vehicles arrived, several armed officers taking cover, their weapons trained on us, obviously unsure of what had happened.

"Put your hands up and turn around" A voice called.

"Do as they say, no need for any more violence tonight." I ordered my team. I faced the cops momentarily "One of us is wounded, gash in the head, can a paramedic come up here please?" I yelled before raising my hands and facing away from the amassed police.

**1 Hour Later, VPD-HQ. Simon's PoV:**

After being interviewed and giving statements of what we knew to the VPD we'd ended up being taken to the headquarters of the VPD, awaiting us there was Headmaster Ozpin and Team RWBY, this time with Blake. It was good to see her alive and well, it felt like a massive weight off my shoulders. We were all sitting in a back room of the HQ waiting while Ozpin was inside an interview room with Blake. No one had said anything since we'd arrived, I noticed Ruby with several cuts and scratches and had Yang fawning over her and Weiss looked like she was in deep reflection.

Looking to my own team I saw Nyanza and Teal had somehow managed to fall asleep on each other's shoulders, I took out my scroll and captured the romantic moment for later blackmail. And Sienna was tugging at the fresh bandages on her head, I wanted to make a joke about being put into a cone so she didn't pick at it, but decided now was NOT the time for racist jokes.

Looking down the corridor I saw two figures approaching our group: Keeper and _Cipher-9_, who had his face mask down, before I could make any acknowledgement of Gregory the interview room door opened and out walked a very meek looking Blake who went and sat between Weiss and Yang.

"Simon, may you join us for a moment in here?" Ozpin asked firmly, but a tone of compassion in his voice.

I stood and made my way into the interview room, Gregory and Keeper following behind me. I stood in front of Ozpin on opposite sides of the desk, I wasn't going to be intimidated while sitting down.

"Seems you've had an interesting weekend Simon: Spending two days searching for someone you barely know and interact with, then confronting the head of the _Black Fist_, someone you apparently have history with.

I raised an eyebrow "I suspect there's a reason you're telling me all this. I know what I did on the weekend, I wasn't drunk." I retorted.

"You also abused your position as an asset of _Vale Intelligence_, I don't take kindly to the positions of my agents and assets being used for personal affairs." Keeper said grumpily.

"Yeah, well I owe you one… but it doesn't matter now, Blake is safe, but now we've got a small war brewing if the _Fist _and _Fang_ start going at it." I said.

Keeper and Ozpin shared a look then turned back to me "Yes, quite. Which is why I'm allowing you to work with _Cipher-9_ here to try and keep the _Fist _distracted enough that they won't be able to start a small scale war within the city." Ozpin explained "On the condition it doesn't affect your studies." He added on.

I smirked and fist bumped Gregory "We won't let you down headmaster." I responded.

"Good, now go get your team and you and team RWBY will be put onto a bullhead back to Beacon, I imagine you and they have _A Lot_ to discuss." Ozpin said knowingly, wishing me luck for what was to come as I exited the door.

**Keeper's PoV:**

As I watched my _Cipher_ agent and Ozpin's student leave the room I turned to the headmaster. "So Qrow said the _Queen_ has pawns? Lachlan and Roman, both former _Black fist_, served together with Simon. Now Simon's on the frontline in our fight against these two pawns and their _Queen_. It certainly is a small world these days." I commented, running through a mental checklist of the things I've learnt tonight, not least that Ozpin was far more cunning and far less risk averse than I originally had thought him to be.

"So it would seem, but I doubt he realises the fight we've thrown him into yet. He has much more urgent worries on his mind, but it is a matter of time until we reach the point of no return and we'll all be forced to fight for the very essence of our being, our individuality once more." Ozpin said, his eyes locked on the door and the 9 teenagers on the other side of it.

"I've dedicated over 30 years of my life to working in the shadows to make sure we never had to fight for our basic liberties and let alone our very survival again. I'll be damned if I'll allow anyone, even the _Black Queen_ to threaten this kingdom. My agents and I will find her, and we will eliminate her with extreme prejudice." I responded firmly, not content to allow teenagers, kids have to take the front line against this threat.

"I fear our window for avoiding catastrophe is quickly closing Keeper, We've been left with few options other than to prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Ozpin said mournfully, Vale would weather this storm, the only question was how many would we lose before we saved the world.

**Simon's PoV:**

Outside the room I sent my team with RWBY to the bullhead while I pulled Gregory aside for a moment.

"How bad was it tonight?" I asked, wanting to know the full extent of Lachlan's activities.

"They're still counting, but dozens of Faunus executed and strung up to light posts with evidence of their _White Fang_ affiliation and well over 100 injured or killed in ensuing firefights with police, _Intelligence_ or _Head hunters_. I and Alpha Team got the worst of it in the Faunus Quarter, it wasn't pretty at all." Gregory answered.

I nodded "We met Lachlan and Levi, the cat is well and truly out of the bag about my past, I'll be coming clean when we get to Beacon. Tonight changes everything... but I'm just glad my team handled themselves as well as they did. I just hope they can handle future fights just as well." I explained.

Gregory nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Well, it probably is better to be honest now with them. They're going to get dragged into all this crazy BS with us at some point no matter how much you try to keep them out of harm's way. Now good luck, I'll send your regards to the snipers." Gregory said before turning and walking back down the corridor, giving me a moment to collect my thoughts before walking out to the Bullhead and clambering aboard with RWBY and NST.

The ride back to Beacon was almost dead silent, most of us got a good 20 minutes of sleep, leaning against various people's shoulders, I don't think we cared who we were leaning on. I woke up back to back with Blake moments before touchdown at the Beacon Landing pads.

As we jumped out I cleared my throat "Umm guys, Team RWBY included. I think you all should come to the team SNST dorm for a bit, there's some important news I got to give you all." I said, my voice slightly shaky.

Weiss looked at me with a knowing, sympathetic look. Sienna however seemed to take a different meaning to my request. "Is this about what Ozpin, you and those two creepy guys were talking about in the interview room tonight?" She asked, slightly confused, but mostly just yawning.

"Not really, this is something else related to tonight, as well as a few explanations I owe people, RWBY included." I said as I walked off towards the dorm, my pace a speed walk, bordering in a jog. My heartbeat was highly elevated and I felt like throwing up.

The other 7 teenagers followed me, hushed whispering behind me, but I didn't listen to what they had to say as I reached our dorm's door and fumbled for my scroll to unlock it, hearing the lock click I opened the door and entered, resisting the overpowering urge to slam the door shut before anyone else could enter. As the two teams filled the room I reached under my bed and once more grabbed my lockbox and sat on my bed with it. I once more opened it up, making a note to change the password again. I shuffled through the various articles of my various lives before finding the one I was looking for.

Weiss was sitting on my bed as well and was eyeing off my journal. "Don't bother _Snowflake_, I've changed the password on it since you've read it. Now you're all probably very confused as to why you're all here and why I'm rifling through this lockbox like a madman. Well on Friday I let slip that I had known that Blake was a Faunus since the beginning of the year, well that was a half-truth, only one of many I've told in my time here to protect my past identities. The truth is I've known about Blake's Faunus heritage since long before I met her, when I was still in Atlas, before I entered the service of Weiss." I began, my eyes fixated on Blake, who now looked quite shocked, not angry, but extremely surprised what she was hearing, but recognition dawned in her eyes.

"You met my father up there didn't you?" Blake asked, putting two and two together quickly.

"No actually, I first met your father: Schwarzer Belladonna when he slaughtered two police officers protecting me in a Vale police station. That was the first act of many in our own private war." I responded, more harshly than I really meant to, causing Blake's ears to flatten in shame and surrender.

"In Atlas we hunted each other for months, killing many of each other's friends and comrades before I eventually caught up with him during an assault on the main _White Fang_ base in Atlas, which is where this came into possession of this." I said, holding out the photo I'd taken of Schwarzer's corpse.

Blake took it, looking at it then bursting out in tears, having been given confirmation that her dad was in fact dead. Yang pulled Blake into a hug, I gave Blake a minute or two to regain her composure.

"I'm sorry Blake, but we were both warriors, I did what had to be done at the time. Though I've been wrought with guilt, wondering what had happened to you for nearly two years till I met you at Beacon, then I thought you were here to kill me as vengeance for killing your father. But you've since proven me wrong. So I apologise for being so cold and standoffish towards you, and thank-you for saving me in the _Forever Fall_." I said, my head bowed in shame, seeking Blake's forgiveness.

Blake looked at me, then walked over to me, putting her hand under my chin and making me look her in the eyes "Simon, I know my father wasn't a good man. I loved him anyway but I knew he had done bad things, not to mention he abandoned myself and my mother to continue fighting up in Atlas. You said it yourself: you were both just warriors on a battlefield, you couldn't have had any idea he had a family, I don't hold any hard feelings against you, especially given that you are coming clean now and you put so much effort into the search for me this weekend. The mark of someone who truly does care and I will happily consider a friend" She said before stepping back amongst her teams.

I sighed sadly, my head dropping back down. "I'm not done yet, and I'm not sure you'll still be so sympathetic when I finish the rest of what I have to say." I replied as I went back to the lockbox and picked up my _Black Fist_ identification patches. "Tonight we met some old acquaintances of mine in downtown Vale, shooting up a home of a Faunus family. I served beside the leader and the main enforcer. Lachlan Mclean, a Valean army deserter and Levi Hartman, another kid who like me was orphaned by the _White Fang_." I began, I once again saw Blake look down in shame, confirming to me that she had indeed once been active in the _White Fang_.

I sighed and handed the uniform patches out "When I got to Atlas, I was beaten to an inch of my life by a group of local thug teenagers, I was found not by a mercenary group who trained me to be a hired gun. I was instead found by a man named Roman Torchwick who at that point in time was a member and recruiter for the _Black Fist_. They trained and indoctrinated me for nearly 4 years of my life, making me a lethal Faunus killer. I trained beside Levi and served under the tutelage of Lachlan, learning the finer points of torture and mutilation." I explained, my head hung deeply in shame as I said it quickly and bluntly, just putting it out there for all to hear how much of a horrible excuse for a human being I was.

Before I could raise my head again I felt myself being shoved against a wall, knocking the breath out of me, _Gambol Shroud_ pressed against my throat….

**A/N: ****I apologise for two cliff-hangers in a row, but this is how this chapter was always planned out to end, even before I split the chapters. But not to worry, the next chapter is well on the way people.**

"_Ghost"_ is an OC created by DELTAGOD for his fanfic "Ghost Among us." So thanks to him for letting me use his creation, and you should check out his story. If you enjoy _Hunter_, you'll enjoy _Ghost._

Wow, over 100 followers on this story…. Thank-you all so damned much for taking the time to read, and for enjoying this story, it means a lot to me for this and makes the effort I put into writing this all the more worth it to know that people do enjoy _From Hunted to Hunter_. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know what you all think in the reviews section or in via a PM. –CC Signing off for some sleep


	49. Aftermath

**A/N: **Lesson for today: Save work after each paragraph. My laptop decided to automatically restart and I lost the first 2000 words of this chapter and had to start all over again, then it crashed and I lost another 1500 words and had to start over for a 3rd time….. ***facepalming intensifies*** But other than that little gripe, I had some interesting reactions to the last chapter ranging from praise to condemning me to hell for cliff hangers. Now let's see the manure hit the fan in the aftermath.

Also shout out to **Gandalf Da Black** for calling my little plot twist in his review for the last chapter. -CC

**Chapter 48: Aftermath, Simon's PoV:**

I stood there, looking into hateful eyes as I tried to regain my breath. This wasn't helped by the fact I had a razor sharp blade cutting into my neck because the assault had stunned me in its suddenness that I hadn't had time to protect myself with my aura. I could feel blood oozing down my neck, it wasn't anything fatal, yet… right now the cut was more like a really bad accident with a straight razor. But I could feel the blade agonizingly close to where I knew my jugular was, one firm slit and it was all over for me.

I managed to get my breath back enough to talk and I looked straight into the hateful eyes of my partner, Sienna Reynolds who had taken _Gambol Shroud_ off the back of a still shocked and dazed Blake and had shoved me into a wall, her eyes full of killing intent as she pressed _Gambol Shroud_ tighter against my throat. "You murdering, lying bastard! You were one of them!" She said angrily.

I raised my hands in surrender "Sienna, I'm not one of them anymore! I haven't been for nearly 2 years!" I explained, trying to calm my understandably angry partner down.

"Yeah and how many innocent Faunus did you murder before you left? How many lives and families have you destroyed huh? How many orphans like Blake, like me exist in Remnant because of YOU!" Sienna said, her tone extremely barbed.

I looked away, that one comment had shot me straight through my very heart and soul, and it crushed me to think at how many orphans there could be out there because of my actions. "I-I do not know Sienna. You think I'm proud of the things I've done? You think I don't have trouble sleeping or even looking at myself in the mirror? I got out because I began to come to my senses, I began to regain the humanity that had been beaten and trained out of me during my time in the _Fist_, I came here to heal myself and try to do good with the skills I have had drilled into me for the last 5 years. Now please take this blade off from my throat, it's making me nervous." I responded with a weak chuckle, my eyes wandering around the room, pleading for help.

"Or I could just slit your throat with this blade. You probably deserve that!" Sienna shot back, obviously emotional beyond rational thought at hearing that the person who she was meant to trust her life to had waged war against her entire species.

I decided to go for broke in trying to get this blade away from my neck without violence or physical force being resorted to. "Sienna, you're probably right. I probably do deserve to die for the things I have done. But it won't be by your hand and it won't be tonight. Why? Because you're a better person than I'am. If I was in your position right now I'd have not hesitated or spoken, I'd have used that katana to slit my target's throat in an instant. You however are not a cold-blooded killer or a bad person at heart like I'am, you don't want to kill, you just want to protect yourself, your sister and others from harm and that shows in your semblance and fighting style. Now please, put the sword down before you do something you'd live to regret." I pleaded, knowing this was my last throw of the dice until I had to risk confrontation.

Sienna seemed to consider my words, but whether or not they would make her tone down her aggressiveness became a moot point as a propulsion glyph appeared underneath Sienna which slammed her into the far wall, immediately immobilising glyphs restrained the enraged dog Faunus as Weiss stepped between her and I, flourishing _Myrtenaster_ and looking supremely protective. "Do NOT EVER threaten my friend again Sienna. Simon is a better person than you give him credit for, he could have continued to spin lies and half-truths for his entire time at Beacon, but he chose to trust you all enough to come clean about himself, and trust me, Simon's trust is a rare gift." _Snowflake_ said, leaping to my defence despite the way I'd spoken to her on Friday night, such was the strength of our friendship. Sienna still looked enraged and struggled against the glyphs, but to no avail.

I, now free from Sienna's hold slumped against the wall and slid down it, gasping for air and fumbling around for the first aid kit I kept in my webbing at my right hip. Blake and Teal came to my side and took the first aid kit off of me. I wasn't in any immediate danger, but I was still shaken enough to feel the need to clean and dress the minor cut on my neck, even if just to reassure myself I was still alive.

"Hold still Simon." Blake said softly as she took up a disinfectant wipe and began cleaning out the cut, which was entirely reasonable given she herself had taken out several _White Fang_ troopers with it, so the blade was probably dirty and bloody. I winced as the disinfectant came into contact with my cut skin and Blake wiped the blood away and cleaning out the wound to reduce possible infections before Teal wrapped my neck in a bandage.

"Thanks Teal, Blake. That makes near death experience number 101 in the last 12 months." I said with a wry smirk, trying and judging by the disapproving looks on the two girls failing at defusing the tension.

"Not the time for smartarsed humour Simon." Teal admonished me as she fastened the bandage in place and helped me to my feet.

Standing I surveyed the scene: Blake was retrieving her weapon from a still restrained Sienna who was in a dagger staring contest with Weiss. Nyanza was over with the sisters of RWBY, all looking confused and concerned at what had happened between Sienna and myself, Ruby's previous joy at finding Blake all but disappearing and Teal was disposed of the bloodied disinfectant wipes and the packets that the bandage now around my neck had come from. The tension in the room could have easily been cut with a knife.

Standing up I decided to clear the air with RWBY and get them out of our dorm before I dealt with Sienna, which was a matter to be handled within our team. I looked to Blake and walked up to her, my head bowed in submission and surrender. "Blake, I seek your forgiveness. For everything I've said and done to you in the past three months. I'm sorry for assuming the worst of you when I first met you, I'm sorry I didn't trust you, I'm sorry I hospitalised you and came seconds away from potentially killing you. I'm sorry I didn't come out with the truth earlier because I was a selfish coward. I'-" I had begun rambling, but was shushed by Blake.

"Simon, I stand by what I said. I hold no bitter or hard feelings about you or your past, I'd be a hypocrite if I dared consider otherwise… Our lives are not dissimilar when you think about it: we were both manipulated and exploited by groups we though were there to protect us, even if I did choose to be a member of the _White Fang_ before they used me for my combat skills to harm a great many humans and the SDC. So there you have my forgiveness, and I stand by what I said about us being friends, you aren't going to judge me on being a part of the _White Fang_ are you? Why would I feel any different about you just because you were pressed into the _Fist's_ service? It doesn't detract from the fact you're a good person." Blake responded, her golden eyes filled with empathy.

I felt a lump forming in my throat, it may not have seemed like a big deal. But knowing that despite what I had once been, everything I'd done, Blake could still see me as a person, and she still accepted me. I knew Weiss would always accept me, but that was different: Weiss and I had bonded through our mutual hatred and wounds suffered at the hands of the _Fang_, Weiss I knew had no qualms with me having killed many _White Fang_ members and I suspected she overlooked the innocents I'd either killed or had a hand in enslaving. Blake however WAS a member of the _Fang_, Blake was also a person I'd personally did great damage to… so it meant an immense amount to me that I was still a person, not a murdering monster to her.

As much as I was enjoying this moment of understanding, I knew I had much bigger problems right now. I looked over to the far wall where Weiss still had Sienna pinned by glyphs. I sighed and turned to team RWBY. "Thanks for coming over and hearing me out even though we're all dead on our feet, but my team and I have some issues of our own to iron out and it needs to be done as just us. So good night RWBY I'll see you all tomorrow." I said kindly, yet firmly, pausing to make sure Blake had her dad's photo, she did.

Weiss looked at me and began to protest, obviously she didn't trust Sienna to not attempt to assault me again. "I'll be fine Weiss, just trust me and rest easy." I replied, giving a weak grin, trying to calm my closest friend down.

Weiss looked unconvinced but let Ruby drag her out of the room, releasing Sienna from her glyphs as she left.

Once RWBY was gone from the SNST dorms I sat on my bed and taking my boots and webbing off before sitting against the wall to get comfortable. Sienna was leaning against the far wall, growling viciously, letting the more primal aspects of her Faunus heritage show.

Teal and Nyanza were standing between us, unsure of what was about to happen.

I looked at Sienna "I won't ask you to apologise for what you did tonight Sienna, I understand why you acted out violently, the same reason you killed those _Black Fist_ troopers as viciously and mercilessly as I did. You don't see them, or me as people: You only see a scourge to be purged from society. And you're partially right… The _Black Fist_ and _White Fang_ are scourges to be erased and defeated, but not by simply killing every single member of both groups. I saw the error of my ways and I left, a lot of other people did as well: Kruger was one, he left when he had a chance and redeemed himself in Vacuo before he died, and I'm trying to redeem myself here, like the Faunus of the _Fang_ many of us were merely misguided… some, like Lachlan are unashamedly psychopathic and Faunaphobic, but most joined for reasons of self-defence after the _White Fang_ rebellion 5 years ago and just got indoctrinated into the _Fist's_ more extreme views before they knew what was happening to them. I'm not asking you to forgive me, but I'm asking you to understand me Sienna." I explained calmly and apologetically.

Sienna looked at me, anger and betrayal, and a great amount of hurt in her eyes. "No, I don't care if people left, they shouldn't've joined either group in the first place, and they can live with their guilt and answer for their crimes. So should you and Blake, it doesn't matter if you didn't join by choice: Justice must be served for what you did, except Ozpin won't let that happen. I've seen the very worst of both species has to offer, my parents and adopted parents being perfect examples of how bad humanity and Faunus can be. I've been abused, assaulted and treated like filth with my life and body constantly under threat but I never even contemplated running off to commit genocide against the entire species because a few bad apples wronged me. So don't expect any sympathy or understanding from me. You made your bed, now lie in it and don't expect people to just forgive and forget the horrible things you've been a part of." Sienna replied, making it clear she wasn't forgiving me and that she was tarring me with the same brush as her parents and those like Lachlan who took sick pride and pleasure in inflicting death upon others.

I looked down sadly, disappointed that Sienna couldn't see that I never volunteered and that I had to go with Roman and the Fist or I'd have died for sure. Nyanza and Teal looked unsure of what to do and just looked at each other and then to us. "Ok guys, we've had a stressful few days, why not let us all get a good night's sleep and sort all this out tomorrow when we're relaxed and well rested?" Teal suggested, taking control of the situation, trying to avoid Sienna getting even more worked up.

I nodded and stood to go and grab some pj's before making my way towards the bathroom to change and take a decently long shower, I was covered in grit, dried sweat and still covered in blood from the _Black Fist _troopers I had killed tonight, I looked and felt disgusting at this point in time.

I ended up spending nearly 30 minutes under the water, the first 5 the water had washed off of me blood red, it had saturated my uniform and sunk through, coating my skin from forehead to waist in blood, mostly from the one trooper whose throat I'd slashed open.

Coming back out I saw no Sienna in the dorm. "Please tell me we don't have to send out a search party for her?" I asked Nyanza and Teal who were leaning against the dorm's desk in discussion, about what I did not know.

"No, she said she was going to shower at the gym, couldn't be bothered waiting for you. Which is probably a good idea, considering how much blood you got on you." Teal responded, pointing to the thoroughly stained uniform in my hands.

I looked down at it and grimaced, the uniform I'd so often worn in the _Fist_ and then again at Beacon just felt wrong in my hands now, I remembered the things I'd done wearing this pattern of uniform, the murder of the family during my trials, enslaving Faunus, torture and executions, I couldn't even look at it anymore let alone wear it I immediately opened a small cupboard at the desk and took out a trash bag, walking over to my closet I opened it and began ripping out all of my _Black Fist_ patterned uniforms from my closet and into the garbage bag. I left some items such as my snow uniform, webbing and body armour, but the dull green, brown and black patterned shirts and pants all went into the bag.

Teal and Nyanza watched on in silence as I binned not only my uniforms but my ID patches, my dog tags, everything from my service or connected to my service in the _Fist_, except my journal. I didn't know what I was going to do with all this stuff, but I knew it wasn't a part of who I was anymore and I couldn't keep wearing it, because to do so was to still identify with them, that seemed especially true to Sienna. I was determined to fix the mess I'd made with my partner and keep SNST from falling apart again. I chucked the garbage bag under my bed and flopped into bed, falling into a shallow, fitful sleep.

**The Next Morning, SNST Dorms. Simon's PoV:**

I awoke late, the sun was shining through open curtains when my eyes slowly flickered open. Looking around I saw Teal putting her shoes on and getting her school stuff sorted for classes today.

"Sienna's already left, she didn't come back till about an hour after you fell asleep. Said she ended up training in the gym to work out her anger. She's still pissed and refusing to acknowledge your existence but I think she is past the trying to literally erase your existence, for now." Teal said without looking up from her stuff when she heard me sitting up, my bones creaking and cracking as did my bed, alerting my teammate to my awakening.

"Well I honestly feel like death… barely slept last night. I just hope that Sienna is able to keep her damned mouth shut about all this." I said grumpily as I went to grab a school uniform from my now much emptier closet, we didn't have combat class till Friday this week because of examinations for our other classes taking up the timeslots for most of our combat classes, so I still had plenty of time to find replacements for the now discarded _Black Fist_ uniforms sitting under my bed.

"Want me to wait for you Simon? Nyanza went with Sienna, try to keep her from going ballistic at Weiss, probably not the smartest idea given Nyanza's history with Weiss but at least he's helping, I think." Teal asked, now fully ready for class and headed towards the door.

I looked at my teammate, a numb look on my face "No Teal, I just need some time by myself. I'll see you guys in class." I responded as I entered the Dorm's bathroom.

I came back out 20 minutes later to see Teal still sitting on her bed. "Took you long enough." She admonished jokingly.

"Thought I told you to go on ahead? You'll have to skip breakfast, it's nearly time for classes." I rebuked my teammate.

"And I'm not just going to walk away and let this team fall apart again. You should have been more honest with us Si, and Sienna shouldn't have reacted the way she did. Nyanza and I don't hold it against you that you were in the _Black Fist_ at one point, you've shown you're not associated with them anymore… but you still misled and lied to us so many times, you broke our trust in you and you're going to have to earn that back, but you can earn it back if you're willing to put the effort in." Teal said combatively as she stood up.

"Still not answering my question as to why you're still here though and not getting food or at least coffee before class." I asked, not particularly wanting or enjoying company right now.

Teal rolled her eyes "Because I'm not going to let you simply wallow in self-loathing and isolate yourself from your team and your friends, Nyanza isn't going to let that happen either." Teal shot back, obviously her and Nyanza had discussed this in detail, I had to admit it was good to see them getting along and cooperating, though I wish it was under other circumstances.

"Ok, fair point. I can see I'm not winning this argument, so give me 5 minutes to get my shoes on and books packed. _You stubborn as hell bitch._" I replied, adding the last sentence on mentally.

Teal just nodded and sat on her bed waiting as I speedily got ready.

As we walked down the halls of the dormitory building minutes later I had a scowl plastered over my face. Teal sighed "Simon, be thankful that Sienna didn't have it in her to actually hurt you and smile a bit. I can feel the anger radiating off you." Teal said, still looking ahead, not at me.

I knew she was right and I sighed, relaxing my taut facial and shoulder muscles. "I know, it's not about Sienna that I'm mad, I nearly had him caught and then that bastard with the hammer smacked Sienna through the air and I had to let him go, all I needed was 30 more seconds." I replied, anger seeping into my tone.

"You mean the _Fist_ soldier with the tomahawks? Levi wasn't that his name?" Teal asked confusedly.

"Yeah, Levi. He's not well, I don't think he even knows what he's doing anymore." I replied, wishing I could have managed to knock Levi out last night.

"What do you mean? Is he ill?" Teal pressed.

I knew she was taking advantage of my guilt but I knew this had to be said eventually, especially as my team had faced off against him and probably will in the future. I led Teal into a currently empty classroom and locked the door.

I turned to face my teammate and sighed "It has to do with the Semblance he possesses, he can meld his mind to others and extract memories or information. We had another orphan in our group, Sarah. She had a similar semblance except she could manipulate emotions. Well they spent a lot of time in the other's mind, communicating, sharing information and emotions, it got to the point where they didn't even need to be anywhere near each other to meld their minds. Well Sarah ended up being captured by the _White Fang_ because her soldiers deserted her. Levi felt and saw in his mind everything they did to her before she died. It shattered his mind, he's insane and out to kill any Faunus and _Black Fist_ deserter, including me… especially me." I explained, my voice filled with determination, but also regret and sympathy.

Teal stood there silently "How many others of you, orphans I mean?" She asked, surprised that there were more people like me.

"We were trained in groups of 12, there were dozens of groups, a lot of orphans from all four kingdoms. Hundreds of us in total, all orphaned by the _White Fang_... but attrition was very high, over half of us died before we even saw real fighting. From my group of 12 of which I was the youngest, I know of only three who are alive, including Levi and myself, there is also one unaccounted for but no one has heard from him for nearly 18 months so I'm assuming him Killed in Action." I responded, sadness filling my voice as I remembered my orphaned brothers and sisters in arms, their names, their faces, their grizzly demises.

I leaned against a desk, a single tear dropping down my cheek, I had bottled it up for so long, but I did miss Sarah, Sophia, Ander, Jack, Ben and the others. "I was sort of a leader, despite being the youngest: myself as well as the two eldest, Gregory and Sophia, were the best fighters in the group and the others looked to us. I failed them, we failed them and they died for our mistakes and inexperience. That is kinda why I push you guys so hard to keep your skills razor sharp and your reflexes lightning quick: I NOT want to lose another team, not anymore friends." I said, starring out into space, letting my insecurities come to the fore.

Teal looked at me, concern etched across her face "I'm sorry Simon, I didn't know" she replied, obviously having no idea how to react to this.

"How could you know… the _Black Fist_ used us as little more than well trained fodder and we died nameless and forgotten, I just need to make sure the same fate does not befall you or Nyanza or Sienna." I replied, checking my watch and pushing myself up off the desk. "We gotta get moving if we don't want to be late. Umm, thanks for the company Teal." I thanked my teammate for hearing me out as I led the way out of the classroom and onto the beginning of last week of our first semester at Beacon.

**A/N: **Just a short chapter this time around, just to resolve this cliff hanger as quickly as I can. I'll be working on a little side project in the next few weeks on the run up into Christmas and New Year's. Hope you enjoy it and as always feel free to **Review, Follow &amp; Favourite **this story –CC Signing off.


	50. Going Home, Coming Full Circle

**A/N:** Welcome to the 50th FHTH chapter I have published including the Valentine's special, I still can't believe how big this story has gotten or how many people have taken the time to read it, especially considering how poor the writing has been at times. All you people that read my work are AWESOME! **Cookies, Pancakes and Sloth hugs for all!**

Lots of good character development for Weiss in the fourth episode as well as for her family, it was really awesome to see the softer side of Weiss with Winter as well her more rebellious side towards her father.

Same goes for Qrow and the Sisters: Qrow loves his nieces but dislikes their cockiness over their accomplishments so far and set them straight with some sound advice about the reality of what's actually happening with the _Fang_. Also did anyone else notice how Qrow hid Raven's face when he showed the girls his team photo? Deliberate or just coincidental placement of his fingers?

My one gripe about the episode is: FUCKING MERCURY AND EMERALD! I mean come on…. We all saw how OP Coco and Yatsuhashi were during the Breach, I'm pretty annoyed how lacklustre they were shown to be during their fight against Cinder's minions, being so easily beaten.

As for Episode 5, well it didn't miss a beat, nuff said.

And all I got to say about episode 6 is: **FUCK YOU MERCURY BLACK!**

Now enough rambling on my part and onto the next chapter of the story –CC Signing on.

**Chapter 49: Going Home, Coming Full Circle. Tuesday, Week 13. Beacon, Simon's PoV:**

I sat in the classroom of Professor Port, it was eerily quiet in here as we were in an exam and Port simply sat at his desk, trimming his moustache, silent for the first time in over 3 months as we sat doing a theory exam on the Creatures of Grimm: their biology, habits and how to combat each one. It wasn't a particularly difficult exam. I'd studied hard and even learnt a thing or two from occasionally listening into Port's stories of bluster and obviously exaggerated heroics.

Despite how easy the exam was, I was still struggling. We had to sit by teams so I had Sienna next to me, this was the first time she'd been anywhere near me since Sunday night and I could still feel the anger radiating off of her, she had elbowed me "accidentally" in the ribs when she sat next to me. I didn't react, I knew how she felt, I'd felt similar when I'd run been stabbed in the back myself by Levi and Lachlan, Danny and Luke and _Whiskey_ team and most of them were now dead by either my hand or by the SSB's so I actually did get and understand Sienna's anger at me, so I decided to just weather whatever she wanted to throw at me until she calmed down enough to be rational again.

I tried my hardest to concentrate and do well on this exam, but I was still distracted and ended up just writing out my answers as quickly as I could in order to leave early from the exam, I just needed some air. As soon as I finished I speed walked out the door, barely having time to nod goodbyes to Teal, Nyanza and RWBY, I didn't bother trying to communicate to Sienna, she had her eyes glued to her test, refusing to acknowledge my existence since jabbing me in the ribs when she had walked in.

I walked down the near deserted halls of Beacon, there were a few students milling about, waiting for classmates to finish their examinations so they could compare how badly they'd failed and then go out for lunch or drinks in the case of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years seeing as they were 18 and of legal age to drink. I saw Velvet, Yatsuhashi and Fox waiting outside a classroom, obviously their captain Coco-Pops was running late to finish their latest exam, that or the rest of Team CFVY were just extremely quick at test taking.

I couldn't help myself, I speed walked up to Velvet who waved at me with a smile on her face. I ignored her hello and just pulled her into a very tight hug, my head buried her shoulder. Velvet was slightly surprised at my public display of affection towards her but nevertheless hugged me back. I moved my head up to her ear and whispered ever so quietly "I love you Velvy." Before burrowing my head back into her shoulder, feeling the tension and stress etched across my face and straining my muscles melt away as every muscle simultaneously relaxed from just having the one I love in my arms.

"Yo Simon, I heard your team had a good fight in Vale on Sunday night. Did you almost die? Is that why you're so handsy with Velv today?" I heard Fox chuckling, before getting a fist bump from the normally stoic Yatsuhashi.

I didn't even acknowledge Fox, I was just enjoying the hug, Velvet and I held each other for about another minute before I let go and looked to Fox. "Yes, SNST and I found ourselves in a fight on Sunday night, no we did not almost die. We had it all under control and worked well as a team to defeat the criminals we faced, I'm immensely proud of my team for their teamwork and bravery." I responded, puffing my chest out in pride at my team.

I wasn't surprised word had gotten around so quickly around Beacon about the actions at the Docks with team RWBY and in the residential district with SNST, both had been mentioned on the news for the last two days, though Ozpin was keeping the media who wanted to interview Teams SNST and RWBY well away from the Beacon grounds, which was easy given the fact that his edicts couldn't be overruled by anyone but the Vale Council, and no one on the Council was going to go up against one of the two most powerful non-council members in Vale (The other being Keeper) for the sake of a nosy journalist.

Fox smirked "Well I guess you've certainly one upped Coco, she's never fought off terrorists or people like the _White Fang_ like yourselves and RWBY. Make sure to remind her of that fact, just to rile her up." Fox said with a smirk, oblivious to the damage that the weekend past had done to my team.

I decided to play along, no need to worry Velvet or her Team right now "Why Fox? So she'll take her anger out on you in bed?" I asked, a smartarsed smirk forced over my face.

Fox and Yatsuhashi just laughed and I could hear Velvet face palm and groan in mild disgust at the thought. "So I guess you're here to steal away our teammate for a while or were you just wanting to randomly hug her in public." Fox replied after he stopped laughing, giving me a light nudge in the ribs.

I shook my head and forced a wry smile onto my face "I wouldn't mind spending some time with Velvet, if she has the time to spare of course." I replied, flicking my eyes to Velvet for an answer.

Velvet shrugged and looked at her scroll "We got 3 hours till our next exam, so I guess got some time. Come on, I'm hungry let's get something to eat." Velvet replied, grabbing me by the hand and all but dragging me away from her friends.

"Make sure to wear protection!" I heard Fox yell after us, causing both Velvet and I to audibly moan in embarrassment and frustration at Fox.

"And here I thought the teasing from my friends was bad." I laughed half-heartedly as I walked hand-in-hand with Velvet towards the cafeteria which was running all day given that students would be coming and going all day between exams given that apart from when we had exams we had no other classes for the rest of this week.

The cafeteria while built to hold hundreds of students currently only held only about 20, mostly upperclassmen grouped by the windows trying to take in the beautiful scenery outside of the windows. Velvet and I however grabbed our meals (just sandwiches and a 600ml juice each) and made our way to a table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"You sure you're ok after Sunday? You seem quite shaken, not to mention the still healing cut on your neck. Simon be honest with me: how much danger were you in out there?" Velvet asked, doing her best to not let her concern show through in her voice, but I could see it in her eyes.

"Velvet I promise I was fine in the fight, I had 3 very capable Hunters-in-training looking out for me. SNST handled themselves extremely well as a team." I responded sincerely, they all had done extremely well under withering fire from the _Black Fist_ forces.

"Then how did you slice your neck open? That looks painfully close to your jugular Simon." Velvet asked, her hands moving to trace the still visible line across my neck. I felt a slight shiver ripple through me as Velvet traced the line of the cut.

"That didn't actually come from the enemies we were fighting, Sienna actually caused that one, and well I fucked up Velvet." I responded, tapping on the desk and looking away, choosing my next set of words very carefully.

Velvet looked confusedly at me and her head tilted slightly "What, did she one up you in a spar? Good on her if she did." Velvet said with a silly grin.

I could see it in her eyes, she knew something was up in SNST. But she was trying to keep me relaxed with a joke, Velvet knew me well enough to know that it was much easier to get me to talk when I was relaxed and laughing and that I seized up and became evasive if stressed out or backed into a corner.

"She certainly one upped me, caught me against a wall and had Blake's _Gambol Shroud_ at my throat. The people we fought Sunday night, I knew them, they knew me, we'd all served with each other at varying periods in Atlas. Sienna didn't hold her anger back when she found out the truth about me. The Truth that I wasn't a mercenary before I joined the SDC or came to Beacon…" I paused to make sure no one was within earshot, no one was, before continuing, clasping my hand in Velvets, and mine were shaky as I proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes explaining everything to Velvet.

But this time I did it calmly and calculatedly and Velvet sat there silently and very calmly as she learnt just how far I fell as a human being during my time between reaching Atlas and becoming Weiss' bodyguard. She learnt more than Sienna did: I told her how I'd been involved trafficking Faunus slaves, though I didn't say whom to because Weiss didn't need any more hate from the Faunus at Beacon. I spoke all this in an extremely quiet whisper that I knew Velvet could hear easily but that no one else in the still nearly deserted cafeteria could hear a word I was saying.

When I'd finished, I looked up at Velvet, looking her straight in the eyes. "And there you have it: Insurgent, assassin, slaver, murderer and a liar. The five words that describe what I was, what part of me will always be." I finished as I squeezed Velvet's hand softly, hoping she wouldn't just run away.

Velvet to her credit had only listened calmly and silently as I'd explained how I'd come into the _Fist's_ service and how I'd ended up in all the completely fucked up situations I had until I gone to _White Castle_. I looked up expectantly at Velvet, waiting for what she had to say.

I could see immense confusion on her face as she went to start speaking several times then stopped, she obviously had no idea how to respond to the fact that her boyfriend was a wanted assassin and terrorist by the Atlesian Government, with a death sentence over his head should I ever be convicted of assassinating the Atlas Councillor. Velvet remained silent for what seemed like hours but in reality was just over a minute before she spoke.

"So you were indoctrinated, brainwashed into their methods and ideologies with threats of violence and death if you didn't comply? Simon, you can't blame yourself for what they made you do… you were at their mercy and you only wanted to survive, you had no choice in the matter." Velvet stated, having at least more understanding about what I'd been through than Sienna did, and at least I didn't have anything sharp at my throat this time around.

"Essentially, though I will admit I did take pride in killing Schwarzer that was justice for those he had murdered. But everything else I was involved in, I do regret and looking back I wish I'd had the spine to speak up and rebel against my orders and kill or capture Roman and Lachlan before they had the chance to get to Vale and cause more trouble, but no I was a good little terrorist who followed his orders." I growled lowly, still aware of where we were.

"Is this why you wanted to have picnic down on Beacon cliffs? So you could tell me all this." Velvet asked, putting the pieces together.

'_She really is one smart bunny.'_ I thought to myself as I nodded in response.

Velvet looked kind of shameful "Oh Simon, you should have insisted it was important, I would have made the time for you if it was urgent, regardless of exams or Coco's training regime." She said, her ears drooping as she realised she'd let me down.

"Don't be so hard on yourself over this Velvy, you could never have known. I've become quite adept at being ambiguous and secret keeping. I just wanted you to know sooner rather than later, but I guess life has ways of throwing spanners in the works. Though where do we go from here? I don't know if someone like me, with my history would be welcome back in a Faunus community like Exton." I wondered aloud, honestly beginning to think becoming a _Cipher_ agent was a very good idea, I could kick ass with Gregory full time.

Velvet shook her head disapprovingly "Don't think like that Simon, Me, my family, our friends, everyone back home will still welcome you with open arms. You aren't responsible for the things they forced you to do, forced you to think and believe. Those years don't define who you are. The years you spent as my neighbour are what made you the good person you truly are. Don't listen to what Sienna or others have to say, they don't know you like I do, they didn't see who you were before your life was ripped from you." Velvet stated, a determined and resolute glint in her eyes.

"Thanks Velvy, I should have known you wouldn't think any differently of me over this. I should have been honest and up front about this months ago, I just didn't know how to and I was scared of the consequences, I've only just began to get something resembling normality back into my life, well apart from the whole huntsman thing, but I didn't want to lose that, I feared being alone again cast out into the wilderness." I explained, feeling much easier in talking to Velvet than I had two nights ago with SNST and RWBY.

Velvet just looked at me and shook her head "We both know that Ozpin is fully aware of your past, and he offered you your place here, he wasn't going to just throw you out and I know you're far too stubborn to let what others think of you keep you from something your goals. But I can see you're wanting that small slice of normality, to be able to act like a teenager once in a while, to make friends and have times when you aren't worried about whether tomorrow will be the day your luck runs out and you can just slow down and enjoy the small, simple things. It wasn't being thrown out of Beacon you were afraid of, it was being made a pariah, an outcast of society once again, without friends or any small slice of normality or innocent childishness." Velvet stated, her large brown eyes scanning my blue-grey ones, gauging my reaction to what she had said.

I looked away, the way she'd said it had made me sound so selfish for putting my own wants ahead of the greater good and the truth. Velvet must have realised I'd taken what she'd said the wrong way because her bunny ears drooped down and she scrunched her nose, it honestly looked adorable and I couldn't help but smile.

Velvet smiled back "Just so you know before you start worrying about it, what you've said today changes nothing between us, and our trip back home is still going ahead, I'm not letting you run away or back out scared, it isn't befitting of you." Velvet said softly, yet firmly.

People might think that Velvet was meek or weak just by looking at her, but when she put her foot down about something, she did it with a firmness that told you 'this is what's happening, no complaints or excuses.' Velvet was very strong and was not at all meek once she set her mind on something, as she had just now about getting me back to Exton, back… _home_.

_Home, _The word seemed foreign to me, to me _home_ was simply wherever my head fell for the night: be it _White Castle_, _Beacon, The Distillery_ or even some dirty ditch near a battlefield, where I slept was home for that night. I hadn't considered Exton to be an actual home for many years, more like a bad memory to be forgotten, until now at least. I honestly hoped the rest of this week went slowly, give me more time too mentally prepare myself for the inevitable shock to my system such a trip was going to inflict.

I felt something Boop my nose and it withdrew me from my internal thoughts to see Velvet looking slightly concerned, her finger still outstretched near my face. "You ok Simon, you just zoned out there for a moment."

I blinked a couple times "Yeah, I'm fine just had something on my mind." I replied quickly.

Velvet leaned in towards me, her mouth right by my ear. "Tell me your secrets" She whispered, wanting to know what I was hiding inside my mind.

"Home, it's odd to think of anything but my pillow for the night as home. A fixed home means family as well and I don't think I even have much left in the way of extended family, both my parents were only children and my paternal grandparents died when I was an infant, my maternal grandparents were beginning to be of failing health by the time I turned 12, they couldn't even make it to my birthday party and I imagine losing their only child and grandchild did not help their health at all. It's just odd to have an actual place to call home." I responded, giving Velvet exactly what she had asked for.

Velvet looked slightly saddened at my musings, but also had a small smile on her face "You might not think it but you still have a home, you have always had a home. My home, is your home Simon. Even before, before the _White Fang _came it was your home, you spent more time over there with me than you did in your own house anyway." She said sweetly.

That simple statement of fact brought to the fore of my mind all the fond memories I had of afternoons or weekends or the many, many sleepovers spent over with Velvet and our other friends in her family's home. It really was my 2nd home, I guess it could also become my new home again. It would be nice to have a fixed point of safety to return to, away from Beacon or any of my violent side projects with Gregory and the snipers. I looked up at Velvet, one of my few genuine, toothy smiles across my face "I guess that is an arrangement I can live with. Heh, get it: _Live with_?" I smirked, the first time I'd genuinely joked in several days.

Velvet just rolled her eyes, happy to see me with a smile on my face again, but nonetheless flicked my nose "You're spending far too much time around Yang, your humour is becoming like hers." She said with a small laugh.

"Ow, that hurt Velvy." I pouted sarcastically.

"Well hopefully you'll stop hurting my sensitive ears with such horrid puns." Velvet whined just as sarcastically, her bunny ears twitching.

I rolled my eyes at Velvet _'She always knows just what to do to drag me out of the dumps. Damn I love her.'_ I thought as I began to feel my spirits lift, only for them to be almost instantly crushed again as I saw Sienna and Teal walk into the cafeteria. Teal waved at me, but Sienna just snarled and looked the other way as she walked towards the serving area to get her food.

Velvet just observed this wordless exchange. Once Sienna had gotten to the serving area I turned back towards my girlfriend "Wow, she is really mad at you. But she's going to have to learn to deal with it and get along with you or she's never going to last through Beacon." Velvet stated, an aura of certainty about her, it was easy to forget sometimes that she had been here for an entire year already and from what I'd seen and heard, could easily kick my ass without even needing a weapon, well provided I fought cleanly and against her I probably would, the dirty tricks I'd learnt would hurt her far too much to even consider using against her.

I once again felt my nose being booped and I blinked several times and focused back in on Velvet.

"Simon, are you sure you're ok? That's the 2nd time you've completely zoned out into your own world." Velvet said, concern easily identifiable in her voice.

"I'm fine Velvy, just got a lot on my plate right now. It'll be good when exams are finished and we can get out of here for a couple of weeks." I replied as I stood from our table, our meals finished.

Velvet followed me and once we were out of the cafeteria she stopped me "Simon, don't let the mistrust and fractures in your team fester over the two week break, you need to sit down with Sienna and the other members of your team and at least try to clear the air with them before we go back to Exton, if you wait those extra two weeks it might be too late to fully repair the damage done." Velvet cautioned me, blowing my plan to give Sienna a few weeks to cool off out of the water.

I went to protest, but Velvet put a shhhing finger over my mouth "Don't protest, trust me on this… talking works better than ignoring the problem." She said caringly, trying to guide me to better solutions to problems than either ignoring it or killing it.

I tried to protest again but Velvet just glared at me, I knew she was right and I gave up "Fine. I'll talk to Sienna tonight, but if she tries to kill me again, I'm crashing in your dorm." I replied, a smartarsed chuckle at the end.

"What, and deal with Fox and Coco's teasing as well as Yatsuhashi's brotherly protectiveness of me? I think you'd prefer the near-death experience with Sienna than the certain death experience with Yatsuhashi if he doesn't approve of anything you do." Velvet replied shyly but with a cheeky tone in her voice as she saw my face drain of colour at the thought of being on Yatsuhashi's bad side.

We kept on walking around the grounds, eventually ending up in the gardens outside the main building. There we stayed for a couple hours before she had to make her way to her next exam, we'd lost track of time as we talked and she had to take off in a sprint, just enough time for one kiss goodbye before she was gone, at least for now. I had two weeks to spend with her, so I wasn't too fussed our time today had been cut short.

**That Night: SNST Dorm, Simon's PoV:**

Teal and Sienna were out late, probably studying seeing as we had an exam early tomorrow, our 2nd to last for the semester, not including our final combat class of the semester on Friday morning.

Nyanza was on a laptop, watching a pirated version of the latest Spruce Willis movie that had been leaked and he'd downloaded, I'd been talking like a pirate to him all afternoon, he was now ignoring my existence until I stopped acting like a dick.

So I just did some exercises: push-up, sit ups, planks, crunches and the like until I heard the lock click and in walked a tired looking Sienna and an even more tired Teal. I finished the set of squats I was doing at that moment before standing to my full height, putting me 2-3 inches taller than either Teal or Sienna.

"Girls, Nyanza. Take a seat, we got to talk. This ignoring each other BS ends tonight." I said firmly, but also passively, trying to avoid Sienna's more combative side.

Nyanza stopped his movie and sat up, his eyes and facial expression showing immense boredom.

Teal sat on her bed as well and looked at me, looking eager to expunge the newly found bad blood amongst our team.

Sienna however went to her dresser and grabbed out a set of pyjamas and made her way to the bathroom. "I got nothing to say to you, murderer." She snarled, not even looking at me before she retreated into the Dorm's bathroom, the water beginning to run moments later.

Teal and Nyanza looked at me. "Is she right though? Did you ever murder in cold blood or only in the heat of battle when you just as easily could have died?" Teal asked.

I looked at her, but realised I wasn't getting out of this and sighed before speaking. "Mostly it was in battle, but I did take part in executions, assassinations and revenge killings, sometimes women and children were caught up in it. But I did what I had to in order to survive, none of you were there: You didn't have to see a bunkmate get shot because he refused to execute a captured Faunus when we were in training, you guys weren't beaten by your trainers until you learnt to desensitise yourself to what you had to do just to make it to see the next sunrise, you suppressed your qualms and disagreements with the ideologies forced upon you until eventually you agreed with them, just to make the torture and pain go away. I may have been angry at the _Fang_ for what they did, but I never voluntarily hated Faunus, my conscience ate at me ever chance it could until I suppressed it and fought without thinking or feeling for years, I pretended my time in Exton, my time as a child living next door to Velvet was nothing but a fiction, a figment of my imagination." I said, not raising my voice or getting emotional or agitated.

Nyanza stayed silent, processing my statement, essentially a reiteration of what I'd said on Sunday, but now calmer.

Teal however did speak up. "A simple yes or now would have sufficed. You know Nyanza and I don't hold it against you, yes you did horrible things, but you obviously regret it all and are remorseful, Ny and I have discussed this already. It's Sienna you should be saying this to." Teal said.

"She can hear everything we're saying. Her sensitive hearing ensures of that. A wall and some water won't stop her hearing this conversation. Whether she gives a damn what I have to say is another matter." I explained, knowing Sienna was eavesdropping even though she was not in the room.

We all sat in silence for several moments as we heard the water shut off. I readied myself for a potential argument with Sienna again, I just hoped it wouldn't come to weapons again. It took several minutes but eventually the door opened and out came Sienna, looking most sternly at me.

"Yes, I could hear everything you said. But I imagine you've had to deal with _White Fang _sentries with sensitive hearing, so you're able to be absolutely silent? If so please feel free to show me because I'm sick of hearing your faux apologies." She snapped as she flopped down on her bed.

I held back a laugh, I had to admit that was a good insult and way to tell me to shut up. But I managed to keep my face straight as I stood up and walked over to Sienna's bedside. "Sienna, can you for maybe 30 seconds stop acting like a Weiss-level bitch about this and drop the biased against me just because I was a child soldier in a war I didn't fully understand beyond _Kill-or-be-Killed_." I said in a snarky tone, letting my anger vent a bit rather than bottling it up.

Sienna stood up and got right in my face, Nyanza and Teal just looked on. "Well at least you admit you little mistress is a massive bitch. I've told you already Simon, you aren't getting sympathy or understanding from me so give it up and get out of my face." She replied, baring her fang like teeth.

I shook my head, deciding to change tactics, going for something that Sanderson would use to keep myself and the snipers in line. "You got to get over this pathetic little grudge or none of us will become hunters. Beacon places great emphasis on teams, you know this. What you should also know is that if one member of a team fails to make the grade as a hunter, all 4 members are denied graduation as well. We either stand together or we fall together, you're stuck with us for 4 years, so either step up to the plate and be a teammate and partner, or slunk off back to your foster family and your baby sister with your tail between your legs as a failure, because if you can't work with me then you will never be able to hack it as a Huntress." I said firmly, but without malice, I was taking to shaming Sienna into seeing how wrong she was about this, completely ignoring the comment she'd made about Weiss.

Sienna blinked, physically shifting as my verbal smack down rang in her ears. I crossed my arms and looked so stern it would put Goodwitch on her most irate days to shame. Sienna glared back at me and tried to look intimidating, which was hard when she was nearly 4 inches shorter than I was. "Do not bring my sister into this, or my _guardians_. They'd probably swap us for a racist Faunus hater like you in an instant and be all the more happy for it. Just shut up and go back to your buddies in the _Black Fist_!" Sienna growled, now inches from me, which was actually comical given she barely reached my shoulders.

Part of me wanted to uppercut Sienna for being such a bitch, but I kept my cool, I had managed to glean that her foster family ideologically supported the _Black Fist_ in wanting to subjugate the Faunus, so I sympathised with her and I knew that groups like the _Fang_ and _Fist_ were part of what had made her life so difficult, even if indirectly. I wanted to let Sienna cool down, but Velvet was right, the longer this went on, the harder it could be to get any team cohesion back. _'Dammit… where's Sanderson when you need him'_ I thought as I continued to stare Sienna down.

"Sienna, I'm not asking you to like me, or understand where I've been and what I've gone through to get here. But for the sake of all of us, you need to at least work with me, even if only to make sure that none of us fail, because if one does we all do and that helps no one!" I said firmly, pressing home my point that this wasn't just about me or Sienna.

Sienna looked around to Nyanza and Teal who were nodding in agreement with me, they both just wanted Sienna to call cease fire and acknowledge my existence beyond insults and threats again. The Faunus girl groaned in reluctant resignation "Fine, I'll do my best to not put our passing. But outside of classes, our dorm or missions. I don't want to see or hear you at all Simon!" Sienna growled angrily.

I looked down at Sienna, anger still filling her eyes and permeating her aura. I wanted to push further, make her see how wrong she was about all of this but I decided to just solidify the small gains I'd made tonight. So instead I backed away a step, defusing the stare down Sienna and I had going on.

"Ok, Well I can work with that for now. Now all of you, get some sleep, we got Oobleck's exam tomorrow so we all need to be well rested for whatever he throws our way, and I can guarantee it will be our most challenging exam." I said firmly, yet passively, not wanting to specifically order lest Sienna felt like being rebellious.

But thankfully all of us were merely too tired for further arguments and we all retired to our beds, eager for what rest we could get before tomorrow's tests and exams.

**Friday, Week 13. SNST Dorm, Simon's PoV:**

It had been an extremely stressful week with studying and exams every day this week then our final combat class earlier today, I'd fought Laurel from Team SALT which I managed to win by virtue of the 3 inch long flick blade I kept in my combat boots, It had been an odd fight for me to not be in my armour or _Black Fist_ uniform, so my strikes, timing and balance had all been off slightly which had cost me.

Now that I was officially on my two week's break, I had most of my packing done except for a few essentials such as weapons and the cleaning kits to go with them. I looked under my bed and grabbed out the garbage bag full of my _Fist_ uniforms and insignia in, on a whim I grabbed it out from under my bed and shoved its contents into a small travel case I'd gotten to carry some of my stuff, rather than using my field pack to take everything.

The dorm door opened and in came Nyanza and Teal, deep in discussion. It halted as soon as they saw me. "Oh, hey Simon. Thought you'd left already?" Teal said, slight surprise in her voice.

"Nah, just doing some final packing and checking before I go meet velvet at the Central Transit Hub in Vale. She and CFVY went into town earlier today to spend some time at Yatsuhashi's before they went their separate ways for the holidays." I explained as I zipped the travel bag with my _Fist_ gear closed then began checking through my field pack to make sure everything was still there while Teal and Nyanza went back to their own packing.

I turned to Teal "You see Sienna today? She seemed very agitated all through classes." I asked, making my concerns known for my teammate, regardless of how she treated me.

Teal stopped packing and looked over to me "She'd dreading going back to her foster family, she's enjoying the newfound freedom she has here, but she has to go back during break, for her sister's sake." Teal explained, sounding worried for Sienna.

Given everything that she'd told us about her foster family, I too was worried, I just hoped that she could hold it together and not hack her foster parents to pieces in the next two weeks. I made a mental note to at some point talk to Keeper or Ozpin about the possibility of getting Sienna and her sister out of that abusive household, it would do Sienna and her sister, Pearl a world of good.

Happy that I hadn't forgotten anything I knelt down and shouldered my field pack, which while it could hold upwards of 100lbs of gear, was only carrying less than half of that thankfully for my back and most of what was in there was ammo and accessories for _Umbra Vigilans_ and _Vindex Umbra_.

"So what about you two, looking forward to getting out of Beacon and away from your oppressive dictator of a captain for two weeks?" I said light heartedly, not wanting to be too much of a downer today.

"Yeah, both of us are just going back to our respective families, I'm sure mum or Venus are going to put me straight to work in the shop. Though hopefully I can slip out to Fort Amada with Copper and convince him to take me up in his Warhead, now that would be cool." Nyanza said wishfully.

"Well my mother's probably going to spend all of tonight interrogating me about my time here so far, making sure I'm performing up to her personal standards. Then I'll spend all break training or hunting with her and my sisters." Teal threw out there, fatigue in her voice.

'_Must suck coming from an entire of Huntresses, absolutely no time to rest and recharge after 13 weeks of intense training and study.'_ I thought as I picked up my remaining bag and stood to leave, an evil smirk on my face as I reached into my pocket with my free hand and withdrew a small metallic case the snipers had given me, throwing it to Nyanza. "If you two are planning on getting up to no good while you got the dorm to yourself, you're going to need those." I said with a chuckle and exited the room at a quick march before he could open it up and see 3 condoms ready for use, as funny as it would be to see their reactions I had a desire to live to see Velvet and Exton.

**1 Hour Later, Vale Central Transit Hub. Simon's PoV:**

I jumped off the bullhead at the terminal, making my way towards the bus section of the massive terminal. Walking through the terminal I was amazed by how much extra security there was here since the attacks of last weekend. Dozens of police, several police dogs were sniffing luggage. What astounded me even more was the presence of heavily armed VDF soldiers in uniform sporting scarlet berets and Brassards marked "MP" on their arms, obviously the Vale council had been spooked enough to deploy military police units onto the streets of Vale, despite the active efforts of the Vale Council to keep the VDF out of the city and in the colonies or outposts spread around the rest of the kingdom.\

I was stopped by two plainclothes detectives wearing matching outfits of black slacks, grey suspenders and white shirt with tie. "Afternoon kid, so where're you headed today?" Asked one detective, this once with neatly combed brown hair and a thick beard.

"I'm going away to Exton, visit some friends for a holiday." I answered curtly.

"Oh right? Well mind telling us why you got a military looking bandolier loaded with weapon magazines and a knife in your boot?" The 2nd detective asked, this one had spikey greyish hair and was thinner than the other one. I heard boots hitting the ground behind me as a pair of MP's carrying rifles and with a mean looking German Shepard with them came up behind me.

I slowly raised my hands "Ok, calm down. I'm a Beacon student, we never go away from the school without the tools of our trade. Now I'm going to reach into my pocket and get out my ID." I said calmly as I slowly reached and grabbed my Beacon ID and held it up for the 2nd detective to grab it and search through it.

He handed it back moments later "He's fine, sorry for the inconvenience Sir. Come on guys, let's keep moving." The first detective said as he walked away, the soldiers following, their dog walking alongside, pulling ready to tackle and maul any assailants stupid enough to show up here.

It took me 5 more minutes of walking through the mammoth complex to get to the bus terminals, there waiting was Velvet in a maroon maxiskirt, white short sleeved top with frills around the sleeves, shoulders and cleavage. Over her top she had a shoal, it all looked new so I was guessing Coco dragged her away for one final shopping trip before their team had separated for the break.

"Looking good Velvy, that look suits you." I complimented her as I handed off my bags to the staff to be loaded underneath the bus.

Velvet twirled on her toes "Thanks, I got admit that Coco knows her stuff no matter what personal style one has." She giggled. Then she saw me in just my usual jeans and black shirt with my bandolier. "You know I should send you with Coco someday, I'm sure she'd enjoy the challenge." The Bunny girl teased.

I raised an eyebrow, not sure if to be scared at the prospect of going shopping with Coco, insulted that I'd been called unstylish or impressed that Velvet had cracked a mocking jibe at me about my attire. I began to chuckle and walk over to the now half full bus, we were the last passengers aboard so there were plenty of free seats, Velvet and I sat towards the front, given every other passenger was sitting towards the back. I took the window side while Velvet took aisle, I looked out the window as the bus began to move out and make the journey to Exton, to the North of the City.

I was just getting comfortable and looking out the window when I felt a weight against my shoulder and a fuzzy tickle on the back of my neck and head. Flicking my eyes over, I saw Velvet making my shoulder into a pillow as she yawned deeply. "Coco's had us up at 4am each day for training for weeks. It's left me, well really tired especially with semester finals and all. So I'm just going to get a quick nap in the 90 minutes to two hours it takes for this thing to get back to Exton." Velvet explained, yawning again as she dozed off almost instantly.

I slowly and carefully wrapped an arm around her waist and moved her closer, allowing her to get more comfortable, the dozing bunny snuggled into the crook of my neck as I moved her. Once she looked comfortable I looked back out the window onto the crowded streets of Vale. I saw more police and soldiers out, though the soldiers here weren't just Military Police, I saw a variety of different coloured berets: black ones worn by Armoured Corps soldiers, Rifle Green ones by the Mobile infantry soldiers, dull cherry coloured ones by the Airborne troopers as they patrolled the streets in groups of four.

I could almost feel the fear this display of force by the VDF was creating amongst the sheltered citizens, the security they used to take from the fact that Remnant and Vale were entirely peaceful now shattered, I could only imagine that this was stirring the Grimm that lay outside the cities defences. Opening up my scroll I looked at the news, keep my mind occupied while Velvet napped on my shoulder. I saw a lot of stuff about the _Fist_ and _Fang_, mostly just speculation and fearmongering by news agencies, but I did do a double take at the death tolls: well over 300 Faunus, mostly _White Fang_ members. But only 33 confirmed _Black Fist_ deaths and another 12 in custody of the police out of an estimated 500 _Fist_ members that took part in the attack. _'No Wonder the show of force, they got caught with their pants down and Lachlan kicked them straight in the balls'_ I thought as I closed my scroll, not wanting to see anything more on last weekend, especially given the chance of people finding out it was SNST and I who were involved. I yawned and tilted my head back, being careful not to squash Velvet's ears as I did and allowed myself to drift off into a shallow, yet contented sleep.

**2 hours later, Exton, North of Vale. Simon's PoV:**

A bump in the road shook me awake, blinking and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I saw a sign pass by the window I was next to reading _EXTON: 5KM_. Immediately my mind went to full alert as a shot of adrenaline hit my system, looking to my right I leaned over and lightly kissed the top of her head between her ears.

The bunny girl stirred and yawned as we woke up. "Are we there yet?" She said through her yawn.

"Yeah, just passed the 5km mark, only a few more minutes and I come full circle, returning to where this all began." I said absent minded as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, nerves beginning to get the better of me.

Velvet turned her head and kissed me on the cheek "It'll be fine Simon, relax, I can see veins nearly popping out of your skull" She said, worry in her voice once again.

I took several deep breaths, just to calm the nerves "I'm fine, yes I'm nervous but I'll manage, I know what I'm walking into, not like when we first met at Beacon." I replied, remembering how my brain had completely overloaded and shutdown when I'd come face to face with Velvet after our initiation.

Velvet nodded, beginning to stand as the bus slowed down. Looking behind me I saw only a few people left towards the back, all in navy uniforms as this bus kept going North West to the Royal Valean Navy's fleet base, once again well away from the city and in line with the Council's policy of keeping the VDF away from the city itself.

The bus pulled up and I stood, my knees slightly shaky as I walked down the steps and hitting the gravel at the side of the crossroads we'd gotten off at. I looked around immediately in my own world, ignoring those around me. Exton was a small town maybe 1000 Faunus and a dozen or so humans who work for the Valean government residing here. I still recognised a lot of it. Looking one way I saw the school and another went down to the main street where the shops, town hall and arcade lay.

Down the third way I saw a street of homes, and near the corner, the Exton Doctor's Surgery… the same building my dad had worked in. Outside it I saw a bronze bust, walking closer I saw the smiling face of my father immortalised in bronze. I reached up to touch it but my fingers stopped millimetres away from it, I felt a tear rolling down my cheeks as I stared at my father's face, long since supressed memories coming back and with it, immense heart ache. "I Love you dad, I hope your boy did you proud, even if he'll never be a doctor like you, grandpa and great-grandpa." I whispered, my voice cracking.

I felt a pair of arms snake around me from behind and I felt Velvet's head on my shoulder again "That got put up 1 year after you disappeared, the entire community still misses him and the massive contribution he and your mum made to Exton. But we still have you. Now come on, my mother's here to take us home." She said, sniffling back her own tears.

I nodded and turned around to see Satin Scarlatina, her hair up in a bun, unlike Velvet who left her hair down most of the time. When I got closer she gave me a sympathetic smile and produced a plate of homemade shortbread, Satin was an amazing cook as well as a seamstress and I remembered just how good her shortbread was come Christmas each year. "My Simon, how you've grown. You look a spitting image of your father." She commented as she handed off the plate of food to myself and Velvet, making it sound as though I'd just moved away for school or something similar and had come back for summer holidays. Honestly it did a lot for settling my nerves to be given such a natural greeting

I smiled and took a bite of the shortbread, enjoying how it simply melted in my mouth. A big smile came across my face "Thanks for the great treat Satin, I'd forgotten just how much I missed your homemade treats." I thanked Satin as I climbed into the back seat of the car, it seemed while I'd been off in my own world over at my father's statue, Velvet and Satin had packed our bags into the car.

The drive back was mostly silent for me, I could almost feel my stomach sinking literally as we turned the final corner and I saw my old street. I was there, where it'd all began, I'd come full circle. I saw a small crowd gathering outside of the Scarlatina household. I saw many faces I remembered: my old group of friends that had been present at my 12th birthday, their parents, and my neighbours. Just normal residents, thankfully not a single reporter or politician in sight.

I got out of the car, slinging my field pack over my back and picking up my travel cases. Immediately I had half a dozen teenage Faunus circled around me, pulling me into a group hug, tears flowing freely amongst all of us, a group of friends reunited after 5 years. "I know you wanted no celebrations or anything really big, but we all agreed that you coming back was a cause to celebrate, we all missed you buddy." A tall stag Faunus by the name of Rudolf said as the hug broke and he put an arm around my shoulder to direct me towards the gathering of people for me to be reintroduced and welcomed back into the Exton community.

**Later that evening, Simon's PoV:**

What followed was several hours of food and getting reacquainted with the locals in the Scarlatina's back yard. No one asked what had befallen me while I'd been gone, everyone respected my right to privacy and they didn't want to make me feel insecure or threatened here.

I was about to help myself to some more cake, but an arm dragged me away. "Hey Simon, you're training to be a huntsman right? Mind showing us your weapon? Velvet never shows hers off when she comes back." One of the two cat twins Daisy and Bluebell I had counted among my closest friends during my childhood asked, her big cat eyes shimmering expectantly.

Me, being a bit of a show-off couldn't resist "Fine, let me grab them." I said as I jogged inside to the lounge room where my stuff had been temporarily stored, grabbing my staff, bandolier and gauntlets. As I was going back out I ran into Velvet. She looked at me and shook her head with a smile.

"I was wondering how long it'd take them to want to see your weapons. We're the only ones from here who are training to become Hunters, so whenever I come back they're all always filled with questions, I guess now I can count on you to take most of the attention off of me?" She said playfully.

"Hey, any chance to boost my ego." I said poking my tongue out as I went back outside. Flicking my wrist the 45cm blades extended with several loud metallic clicks, getting everyone's attention. The adults and kids and teens alike all looked at me. I smiled and flourished _Umbra Vigilans_ "Well by request, I've been asked to demonstrate my weapon, my _Watchful Shadow_ as well as my gauntlets, my _Vengeful Shadow_." I said happily as I proceeded to spend a good 15 minutes demonstrating my various moves and tactics with my staff, and gauntlets, finishing off with machine-gunning cola cans off of the fence with my flechettes.

Several of the younger kids, who couldn't've been more than 12 ran up to me when I'd finished.

"Wow that was AMAZING! Mind if I hold it?" One asked, immediately after I had several sets of smaller hands outstretched towards me.

I looked behind them and saw the adults as well as Velvet laughing at my misfortune, I heard several comments along the lines of 'Now he knows what he was like at that age.' From the adults.

Looking back at the kids, I didn't feel right just handing them something that only last week had taken life. Killing is something I'd become so very used to out of necessity I regularly questioned my humanity, but these kids here were still innocent, where as I killed my first men at their age. But I couldn't exactly tell those kids that, so I gave them a small lie instead. "Sorry kids, I think your parents would not be at all impressed with me if I just handed you something you could hurt yourselves on." I said with a chuckle as I collapsed my staff and put it back on my back.

I heard collective groaning of disappointment from the kids, for all of 5 seconds before they ran off to entertain themselves elsewhere. I just rolled my eyes at how innocent and easily impressed they were as I walked back over to my group of friends to hear about how the rest of them were doing at either civilian university, or in the case of Rudolf, at his mechanics trade.

**Later that Night, Simon's PoV:**

It was close to midnight by now and most people had left, it was just myself and the other teenagers left sitting around a bonfire that had been lit to stave off the late autumn chills. Velvet and I were snuggled up together as the wind picked up.

"I always knew it would be you two together out of us…. Even when we were small kids there was a spark." Bluebell teased us as she ate some of the remaining food from the party.

I looked to Velvet and shrugged "True, I won't even deny it." I responded, planting a light kiss on Velvet's cheek.

We continued telling stories for another hour until the flames began to die. "I'll get some more wood, otherwise the icicles will start forming on my antlers" Rudolf said as he stood and made his way to the woodpile in the back corner of the yard.

I had a brainwave and quickly stood up "Just wait here, I got to get something." I said as I ran quickly, yet quietly into the house and opened up my carry case, grabbing out the trash bag full of my _Black Fist _uniforms and accessories before walking back out and dumping the bag near the fire pit.

Velvet and my friends looked at me confusedly "Simon, what's in there?" Daisy asked.

"Remnants of my past, things that have no place with me anymore. Seems only right that you guys get to help me dispose of the bad memories and absolve me of the heinous sins I've committed." I said as I tore open the bag and picked up one of my _Black Fist_ uniform patches and my dog tags. Looking at them briefly before throwing them into the freshly stoked fire.

Everyone else stood and took out the various torn and bloodstained uniforms. Velvet looked physically ill when she accidentally picked up the shirt I'd worn last week, which was by far the most bloodstained, especially as it hadn't been washed since I'd gotten it covered in blood. I watched her toss it into the flames angrily, she knew what it represented: a group who'd stolen 5 years of time with me away from her, but it was also why I was alive, not that she'd accept that small detail. Within moments the bag was empty and all of it, evidence of my association with the_ Black Fist_ was in flames. As I looked at one of the patches catch afire and slowly the embroidered fist disintegrate I felt a weight come off my shoulders, I felt myself in the company of my friends being reborn in a way. I'd gone to the deepest, most horrible places of humanity and the human psyche, but I'd come back, I'd broken the hold that the deep abyss had on me. Now I had the real prospect of a somewhat normal life ahead of me, while I may be training to fight monsters, I would never again allow myself to become one.

**A/N: **Hi all, CC here. This will be the 2nd last FHTH chapter for the year, there will be one more in the next two weeks covering the two week break then I'll dive right into Volume 2 in the New Year. I apologise for the lack of action in this chapter, but this chapter was more about closing one stage of Simon's life and beginning another. I hope you all enjoy it and as always **Read, Review, Follow and Favourite.** –CC Signing off.


	51. The Calm before the Storms

**A/N: **Hi all, CC back again. I'd like to thank **Tommy2486** for agreeing to go over the early chapters of_ Hunted to Hunter_ and edit/polish them up for me. Several people have suggested I ask for a bit of help in this aspect of the story and I've decided to swallow my (extremely) stubborn pride and ask you guys to assist me on this.

Now onto the chapter, the final one of _From Hunted to Hunter _for 2015. –CC signing on.

**Chapter 50: The Calm before the Storms. Monday, Break Week 1. Torres' Takeaway 3****rd**** Person PoV:**

"So there we were, outnumbered 50-4 against the _Black Fist_."

"There were 25 of them."

"Their monstrous leader was about to execute an innocent Faunus when I jumped out of the blue to save him by shooting a Ballistic knife through his arm."

"That Faunus was a high ranking _White Fang _officer and died soon afterwards, also we sneaked through the crowd that had gathered, not leaping heroically into harm's way."

"And in the heat of battle I saved Teal from certain death at the hands of our enemy." Nyanza said standing, full of bluster as he retold to his family the story of SNST's first battle together.

Immediately across the table, Teal to was on her feet full of indignation. "Umm excuse me? I saved your dumb ass from getting a bayonet in the back. However the two of us together did manage to save Simon. But at no time was I a damsel in distress for you to save Nyanza Torres!" She said in a fiery, combative tone.

Immediately all of Nyanza's family burst out laughing at the two partners being at each other's throats. "Wow Nyanza… you're totally this girl's sub, being her damsel in distress and all." Copper Torres said with a laugh before getting a hi-5 from his dad, Nyanza Torres III.

Nyanza IV and Teal immediately looked at each other and then to the oldest Torres' child who was smiling smugly. Nyanza IV then reached over and smacked his older brother in the back of the head. "You certainly know how to piss two people off at once don't you Copper, I guess I know now why those pub brawls were started… you running your mouth." Nyanza IV shot back.

Copper just stood and grabbed Nyanza in a chokehold, giving his younger brother a noogie while his parents just rolled their eyes and smiled at their brotherly rivalry. Teal just looked on at her partner getting beat up with a small smile and a giggle.

It took a good minute for Nyanza IV and Copper to stop mock fighting and take their seats but when they did, all eyes went to Teal. "So Teal, be honest: How's SNST been performing as of late? I imagine Simon can be a very hard taskmaster, he gave us the impression of being a tough to please leader." Nyanza III asked.

Teal and Nyanza shared a look before Teal turned to Nyanza's parents "SNST is progressing well, among the team rankings we're amongst the top in all disciplines, even Nyanza would be an above average student." Teal said as a mild jibe to her partner before continuing. "As for Simon, he's lived through war and it's instilled him with the knowledge of what it takes to survive outside of the kingdoms, so he pushes us to the very limit, because he does care about us all." Teal explained, answering the older Nyanza's questions in full.

Venus scoffed "Nyanza working hard and being above average? Please, I'll believe it when I see it!"

Nyanza pointed a fork at his sister "I'll win the Vytal Tournament and then you'll see I can excel at being a huntsman." He said competitively.

Teal sniggered "You got to qualify first, and we don't even know how we go about that yet… You might have little to no chance getting in, especially with how many detentions you get, you might be disqualified for being so rowdy." Teal teased.

Nyanza pointed the fork at Teal "Hey, I'm a great student! Be careful or I'll get you next time in the arena Teal, I've had plenty of time to study you and your fighting style."

"I'm sure you've had plenty of time to study other things about her as well aye Ny?" Copper said, nudging his younger brother in the ribs.

"Copper, mind yourself!" Diamond Torres ordered, staring down the young hotshot pilot with a glare that immediately made him obey her.

"Hey Copper, you know if you're going to be such an ass. You could at least take me out to Fort Amada to see your Warhead." Nyanza said.

Copper just laughed "If you want to get into the pilot or gunner seat of a Warhead attack VTOL then you can follow the path I did: Get an appointment to the Royal Valean Military Academy, do 5 years of training then get a posting to a ground attack squadron. But of course you'd have to drop from Beacon for that." Copper said smugly.

"That's enough out of both of you! Nyanza, do you mind going down and fetching another bottle of lemonade and some more bread rolls? You should know where they are." Diamond said to Nyanza IV who immediately complied.

Once Nyanza was out of the room and going down stairs the rest of the Torres' family looked to Teal. Venus looking most intently over Teal who looked back nervously.

"Venus, I hope you're not psychoanalysing our guest. I hate it when you do that!" Copper complained, breaking the silence.

Venus laughed lightly "Only maybe a little. I can't help it, I'm fascinated by the psychological effects of being a Huntress-in-training, dedicating your life to fighting the creatures of Grimm."

Teal smiled tactfully "I can assure you that I'm perfectly stable mentally." Waving off the middle Torres child.

Nyanza III turned to Teal "So be honest, how is Ny doing at Beacon?" revealing the real reason that his parents wanted him out of the room.

Teal tilted her head in thought "Compared to when I first met him in initiation? He's matured a lot and has calmed down his antagonistic nature a lot. In all honestly he has a lot of potential to be a great huntsman." Came the honest reply.

Nyanza's parents nodded, smiling that their son was in fact maturing into a young adult.

The lunch lasted another hour before Teal's scroll began buzzing incessantly, her mother grown tired of her youngest daughter's rebellion and had decided Teal had escaped from her watchful eye enough for one day.

"I'll walk you out Teal." Nyanza offered, standing from the table.

"Thanks Ny, my mother said she'll be here in about 5 minutes." Teal said as she followed Nyanza.

Once downstairs and in the temporarily closed takeaway away from Nyanza's family the NT pair of SNST faced each other. "I didn't think you'd want to come back here after last time. You, Sienna and Simon were all hurt and jealous, and don't deny it… you don't share a room for 3 months without getting to know a person." Nyanza said firmly.

"I know, but I really just needed to get away from my mother for a few hours. She spent all weekend interrogating me essentially over every little thing I've done as a member of SNST, I just needed some space so thanks for inviting me back Ny." Teal replied, giving him a friendly smile.

Nyanza nodded and looked at Teal "I'm sorry for all the shit I said at the start of the semester about your family. But I knew I was right when I thought you a dominatrix." He said, slightly flirtatiously and knowingly.

Teal just rolled her eyes and turned around, swaying her broad hips in an exaggerated way.

Nyanza smiled back and shifted awkwardly on his feet "About last week where does that leave us? Because the last thing SNST is any more awkwardness amongst the four of us." He said nervously, remembering what had gone on in the SNST dorm minutes after Simon had left his final gift to Teal and himself.

The two had been sure that Simon had thrown them several condoms just as a joke to get a rise out of them, he probably didn't think they'd get used at all like they were.

Teal smirked at just how nervous Nyanza was about this, truth was she was nervous as well despite it being neither of their first times, but they didn't have to share a room with their past lovers. "Nyanza, we're hardly the first beacon students, let alone the first partners to have hook-ups. We'll just take it as it comes and try to not let Simon catch on, he'll never let us live it down. Now stop acting so weird about this and just enjoy yourself." Teal said, planting a light kiss on his lips before she exited the shop's front door she turned back to Nyanza "Just so you know, you brag to your friends about what we got up to and I'll cleave the flesh from your back with my whip." With that final warning and a wink, Teal made her way out the door and down the street to her mother's waiting car, leaving a stumped and confused Nyanza alone, contemplating just what new insanity he'd submitted himself to.

**Wednesday, Break Week 1. Exton, Velvet's PoV:**

I woke latish, about 9am. Sleeping in was the best part of coming home to see my family, that and getting a room to myself. Simon and I had both decided to sleep in separate rooms this time around, just take things between us slowly and not rush into anything. I arose immediately made my way towards my shower to freshen up, looking out my window I saw Simon already out and about, next door at the memorial to his parents. He'd go for a run every morning before sitting there at their memorial for upwards of an hour, just talking to them. I smiled and began my morning rituals of getting ready.

45 minutes later as I was finishing brushing my hair I looked out my window again and saw Simon, still sitting there just over the fence. Normally I'd go downstairs and wait for him to return, but today I decided to break out of that habit and I slowly opened my bedroom's window and silently exited, much as I had when I used to sneak out to visit the memorial myself on the anniversaries of his parent's death and his disappearance.

Doing a front flip off the roof I landed on the ground, rolling into a run and vaulted myself over the fence landing behind Simon, who seemed completely oblivious to my presence, instead just kneeling in front of the memorial, his _Umbra Vigilans _held vertically in his hands as he spoke. So I just listened.

"I know I've told you many of the more horrible things I've done, things you wouldn't be proud of me for. But I also met some of the best people I know during my time in Atlas. There were these two crazy marksmen, Kale and Shaun, most ego fuelled goofballs one could imagine, but saved my life at least three times and are always good for a laugh or night on the town. I think they'd get along great with Dad in terms of senses of humour. They're also incorrigible when flirting, even trying to flirt with Professor Goodwitch, which kinda ended badly for Shauno." I listened in, learning more about Simon's friends from his past life, I couldn't help but giggle at the thought of someone trying to flirt with Goodwitch.

Simon continued, either oblivious to my presence or wanting me to hear about this all. "There's also Gregory, he's kinda the older brother I never had, he was another orphan conscripted by the _Fist_. We looked out for each other and kept the other out of trouble… most of the time, though he is the one who convinced me to leave the _Fist_, I owe him my life several times over. He's in Vale as well, I work with him occasionally. I can't say doing what though, top secret stuff with lives of other's riding on what we do staying secret. And before you guys ask, yes I'm well aware that Velvet is behind me. She's got every right to hear what I have to say, she is my girlfriend after all. Though I bet you both saw that coming a mile away." Simon laughed as he stood and turned to me, a genuine smile on his face.

I tilted my head in confusion "You ok Simon, I would have thought returning here would have been more upsetting and not a cause to smile?" I asked, wondering if Simon had finally snapped.

Simon shook his head "First couple times it was rather difficult to be here. But now it's more calming than anything, a place where I can sit and remember the happier, more innocent times I had. I mean to be honest I never did see what happened to them, only heard gunshots and screams. This was merely the starting point of something that got progressively more horrible. I know it sounds odd but being here isn't that jarring to me anymore, 1 night of horror will not taint 7 years of happy memories I had here. To do so would let the _White Fang_ win in using fear and violence as a weapon to cleanse this area of humans." He explained, not letting the happy look on his face fade as he explained himself.

"Well I guess that makes sense, I think. Breakfast would be nearly ready by now… smelt like waffles before I jumped out the window to come see you." I said as Simon clasped my hand and walked out of the yard of his former home, he whistled a happy tune and there was a spring in his step I'd noticed he'd acquired over the last few days. For the amount of nervousness he'd displayed at coming back here, I think in doing so he'd finally turned a corner.

"Hey Velvet. This arvo would you like to do some training together? Make sure you're sharp for your team mission next semester?" Simon said as we reached my home's front gate.

I looked to Simon and giggled "What, wanting your seniors to notice your improvements in skill or to learn from me?" I said sarcastically.

Simon smirked "Maybe… well it would be interesting to see you fight some more, you're honestly the only person I've seen fight at Beacon unarmed. It piqued my curiosity." Came the reply, a casual tone to his voice as he opened the gate for me.

I walked in waited for him "You're hardly the first to make that observation. I'll show you my weapon later, then I'll show you a thing or two of fighting unarmed." I said as a challenge, which I knew the hyper-competitive Simon would accept and make this a most enjoyable training session, seeing Simon cut loose more and more this week in everything he did was always good fun.

It even showed on his face, his scars were less inflamed than I'd ever see them and the deep stress furrows in his forehead and around his eyes were much less pronounced, making him seem less of a jaded old man. It had been a great start to our break and I was looking forward to seeing that continue.

**Monday, Break Week 2. East of Vale, Lachlan's PoV:**

I sat in my command tent, going over plans for my group's next round of attacks, still targeting _White Fang_ officers and caches of dust and weapons. Our ranks had more than tripled to nearly 3000 member's spread across Vale, enough to start forming large regiments like we had in Atlas. But I was choosing against that, this was not a war that could be won through conventional force of arms especially given that the VDF would swoop in in immense force if we were to be so bold.

I looked to my dominant arm where my would was healing well, up until yesterday I'd been utilising some experimental Atlesian tech that the _Black Queen_ had smuggled to us through a third party. It was something that most would describe as 'unnatural'. It was a device that could artificially harness one's Aura, even if it hadn't been unlocked like most people. It used this harnessed aura to increase greatly the speed that wounds healed, even for those who didn't have an unlocked Aura. Its military applications were awe inspiring, but of course the hunters in power would never allow this technology to be mainstream, to dilute the monopoly they had on the mysteries of Aura and its use. I flexed my bandaged arm, there was no remaining nerve damage or even scaring, though I personally would have preferred to keep the scar as a mark of honour.

As I sat musing my wound and the marvellous technology used to heal it, the flap to my tent opened and in walked _Ghost_ and Levi. The former still fully armoured, he'd been with us for weeks and no one had seen his face or heard his voice unless it was heavily distorted by his helmet. It was highly intimidating to the enemy, however I found it just annoying with him keeping up this intimidating persona when in base camp. And Levi was wearing a sadistic grin on his face, probably because he'd been spending the entire day demonstrating torture and execution techniques on the Faunus we've kidnapped or captured from Vale or the outer colonies to use for various training exercises for our many new recruits.

"Lachlan, it seems our friend Simon has left Beacon. I have it on good authority that he's gone back to his old home town of Exton, no idea why he'd want to live in a cesspool of a Faunus majority community. I request permission to take 20 good men from your elite guards and go exterminate him and every Faunus in that town." Levi explained, that familiar vicious glint in his eye whenever Simon or Gregory came up in conversation.

I thought genuinely about giving Levi what he wanted and turning him loose. But I knew 1000 dead Faunus and a Hunter-in-training turning up dead was an excellent way to find several Regiments of Valean soldiers with hundreds of tanks, warheads and tens of thousands of soldiers at our doorstep, ready to destroy our fledgling movement. "Sorry Levi, but that course of action is out of our reach, I can't risk over extending our capabilities or bringing too much attention to ourselves, as slaughtering an entire town would. For now. I need you though to go into Vale with Ghost and hunt down more deserters, while we've been distracted with our attacks on the _Fang_ dozens have escaped to Vacuo under the protection of your friend Cipher-9. So go forth and bring them to meet their makers." I ordered, dismissing the both of them. Levi snapped to attention, giving me an open palmed salute before marching out. Ghost nodded and followed in a much more casual way.

I watched them leave, Levi's obsession with getting Simon and Gregory did worry me. It worried me that if the objective of a mission and an opportunity to go after those two came into conflict, it honestly worried me that he would desert the mission to hunt them two down as personal revenge for abandoning him and Sarah. I made a note to have Ghost keep an eye on the tomahawk wielder from now on. Shrugging off that thought I returned to making my next set of plans and awaiting my next contact from _The Black Queen_ for any insights into what her next plans for Remnant were. _'She thinks she's using us, oh how wrong she'll be when we come out of this on top!'_ I thought as I set to work.

**Thursday, Break Week 2. Fort Amada, Gregory's PoV:**

I strode through the Fort Amada Medical Rehabilitation Centre with Staff Sergeant Peach, _Alpha-3_ by my side as we made our way towards where Kale was doing some intensive physio under the watchful eye of Shauno and various doctors and Occupational therapists. The rehabilitation centre was busy today, dealing with the many wounded soldiers from _Operation Never Rise_, the VDF's Grimm extermination in the _Forever Fall_. I saw Kale jogging quickly on a treadmill, Shauno in front of him spouting encouragement.

"Come on Kale, just 500 more metres and then you can take a break! Hurry up man, you've let yourself go, where's the Kale I used to see march 30km a day in blizzards!" Shauno goaded.

Kale grunted as he pushed his body to its absolute limit, running the entire last 500m at a speed of 20kph or about 13mph. Upon completing his 10km supervised treadmill run the recovering sniper jumped down off the treadmill, leaning onto Shauno to help keep him upright as he took a drink and caught his breath.

It was then that they saw me. "Hey Cipher, long time no see. Thanks for keeping us updated about Simmo, seems he's up shit creek without the paddle from what you've said." Shauno said, obviously struggling under the taller and bulkier Kale, who despite losing a lot of weight in his time here was still over very tall and very solid, the biggest change was the loss of Kale's thick ginger beard.

I walked over and shook Kale's hand "You're looking good for someone who only 2 months ago technically died 3 times." I said with a morbid chuckle.

Kale's face fell "Don't remind me, that night is something I'd prefer to forget. I had more holes in me than Vytal Cheese." The bulky sniper said in a tired out voice.

"Well I got news for you both. Kale, as of today you've completed your round of rehabilitation. You're being released from Military care as of today. Staff Sergeant Peach here will take you through the discharge paperwork. When you're finished with that, meet me at the _Head Hunter's Haunt _for a drink. I got a proposition for you both." I said as I turned on my heel, leaving Alpha-3 to go about her business of discharging Kale from hospital.

About 30 minutes later I was sitting in the _HHH_ as it was commonly referred to, a small bar reserved for officers and men of Vale's Special Operations units as well as any _VI_ agents on base. I had just finished my first beer and was about to get my 2nd when in walked Kale, who looked very ginger in more ways than one, followed by Shauno who had a duffle bag in his hands. Instead of a simple schooner of beer I got a jug and two extra schooner glasses, pouring out drinks for each of us.

"Thanks for the drink Cipher, so you had a proposition for us?" Shauno said before taking a long scull from his schooner.

I looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot before nodding to Shauno. "Yeah, I want to recruit you both to _Vale Intelligence_, not just as assets like Simon, but as full agents with designations, pay and benefits. Eventually I want to bring Simon in as well and the four of us with _Minder-27_ form a special strike group reporting directly to the Keeper." I said, explaining my plan for our careers within the organisation.

Kale and Shaun's eyes nearly popped out of their skulls "That's a pretty big commitment, and we enjoy our place at Junior's as well." Shauno said, Kale just looked out of breath again.

I nodded "If you accept, you'll return to Junior's and act as my eyes and ears in his organisation, just as you did before, this idea of mine won't be going ahead until I can convince Simon to join us… which may not be until he graduates Beacon, in fact I'd prefer it that way, give him at least a chance at being a somewhat normal teenager. But once he's a bit older and matured a bit I'll bring him in as Cipher agent, with Keeper's approval of course." I responded as I took another sip of beer.

Kale and Shauno looked to each other then back to me "We'll need time to think this over, what you're asking is for us to abandon all chances of leaving the shadows of Vale's underworld, we do eventually want to settle down you know?" Kale managed to say, still tired out from his final physio session.

I nodded "I realise that, but you do know you're allowed to retire from _Intelligence_, it isn't a lifelong commitment. Besides all it's really doing is formalising the relationship you've had with _Intelligence_ for months, being our moles in Junior's group and thus the entire underworld. But please do take some time to think this through and get back to me when you've made a decision, hopefully before the Vytal Festival." I said as I sculled down the rest of my beer and stood. "I've got to get moving, I'll come see you both by your place overlooking _Vytal Square_ sometime in the next few weeks. Take care of yourselves, and get working on your shooting as soon as you can, you're both going to be rusty as fuck." I said before I swiftly left _HHH_.

**Three Hours Later, Tukson's Book Trade. Gregory's PoV:**

After having a new, different face applied to me as a new disguise I once more went into Tukson's, this time my disguise was that of a university student. The shop was empty this time so I went straight to the counter and summoned Tukson's attention who was out back sorting books.

He came out and upon me laying down a Vacuan Lien he recognised me. "Ahh Mr Ilan, I see you've returned. What can I get you today?" He asked, making it look like we were merely doing business.

"Just wondering if you got any texts on Vale's court system, specifically its use of capital punishment." I replied, picking this topic specifically to not-so-subtly remind him that the gallows was where he was headed if he betrays me now.

Tukson's face lost colour slightly before nodding and pointing me towards a small section in the very back corner "All legal texts are there, not sure what's left, given university students clear me out pretty quickly." He replied.

I nodded and went and grabbed an appropriate text book and brought it back to Tukson who scanned it, slipping an envelope into it as he did.

"I take it you got something for me to?" He asked, wanting me to fulfil my side of the deal.

"That I do Tukson, you did right by us. So now I do right by you." I said as I reached into my pocket and took out a ticket to vacuo, slipped into my Lien that I used to pay for the book. "It's for a ship leaving Tuesday morning at 10am. I trust you can there yourself?" I asked, deciding to not share the fact that from now until he got to Vacuo he'd be tailed by a Fixer/Minder pair.

"Yes, Thank-you for this. I got a package for an old friend, can you see it gets to her? Just wait here a moment." Tukson said, ducking into the back room again, coming out a minute later with a wrapped package of what looked like books.

I nodded and took the package with my purchased book "Good luck Tukson, we will not meet again." I said as I turned and left, looking at the package he'd handed to me, addressed to Blake Belladonna… the girl Simon had only recently spent an entire weekend searching for her. _'Tis a small world after all'_ I thought as I exited _Tukson's Book Trade_ for the last time.

**Sunday, Break Week 2. Velvet's PoV:**

It was our last day in Exton, we were going back to Beacon tonight. So I'd planned something special for Simon and myself, just the two of us. I had snuck out last night and set everything up. _'I swear Coco and Simon are having a bad effect on me with all this rebellious sneaking out.'_ I thought with a smirk as I silently climbed back into my bedroom window at 4am, enough for 5 hours sleep if I was lucky.

I had been extremely lucky, I'd slept in till half-past 9 and it was 10 by the time I made my way down stairs to see my parents sitting with Simon, having what looked to be a laugh filled conversation. It was good to see him getting on well with my parents, I got myself some tea and made my way to the table, sitting next to Simon.

"Good morning Mum, Dad, Simon. Hope you're all well this morning?" I asked as I sipped at the tea and grabbed a piece of toast from the pile in the middle of the table.

Velvet's father turned to his only child, a rarity among rabbit Faunus who normally are born in groups of 3-5. "I'm quite well. I got to say Simon, you've certainly got more bravery than most. Pulling a weapon on none other than Mr Schnee himself and walking away from it unharmed and shaming that horrible man into bending to your will is certainly something I wish to have seen." The man, in his late 40's said with a chuckle as he read his Sunday paper.

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at my boyfriend "If it was anyone but you, I'd never believe it. But you do have a penchant for pulling off the insanely impossible." I said as I relaxed into my seat, I still swore Simon looked at least 5 years younger since coming here and I saw a small glint of innocence returning to his eyes, they no longer were the eyes of a broken person just wanting the hurt to stop.

Simon laughed at my comment "Well I guess now that I think about it, it was a pretty idiotic thing to do on my part, but the circumstances required some extreme measures of utmost insanity." Replied, rubbing his chin, I guessed reminiscing of his time working at _White Castle_.

The rest of breakfast went quickly, after which my parents said they were going out to the Bowls Club. _'Oh old folk and their bowls… I swear every adult here goes there on Sunday.'_ I thought as I went quickly upstairs to grab a wide brimmed straw hat and a small bag and made my way back down stairs to see Simon already pulling runners on, with a cap and sunglasses sitting beside him.

"I heard you sneaking out last night, I assume you got something planned for today?" He said, not looking up from his laces as he tied them.

I pouted "You could have at least pretended it was still a surprise."

Simon stood and walked over to me, pulling me suddenly into a hug and a passionate kiss which I returned. When we broke he had a boyish smirk "I just know you've planned something, I got no idea what it is. So lead the way Velvy to this surprise of yours." He said as he put on his cap and sunglasses.

I smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him along behind me as I exited the house, making sure to lock it up and took off running "Catch me if you can Simon!" I said as I ran down the street. I heard Simon laughing as he took off after me, but unfortunately for him I was extremely nimble on my feet, he hadn't a hope in Remnant of catching me.

We eventually came to a small clearing in the forests on the other side of town, it was by a small stream where I'd set up a small picnic for the two of us, the food in an electric esky to stop it spoiling while I'd been gone. I leaned against a tree as a minute later Simon jogged out of the trees "Velvet, you just took me on a 5km run! Damn you're quick." He puffed tiredly, he'd already been on one run this morning and this had tired him out heavily.

I just smiled sweetly at him "Oh well, now you know how hard Coco pushes us. If worst comes to worst, just jump in the stream, though I'd warn you how cold it is with Winter fast approaching." I warned, but too late, Simon had already stripped off his shirt and was in the water.

I sat by the side and saw the look of immediate regret on Simon's face as the stream, while refreshing him after his 2nd run, sucked every ounce of body heat out of him. "You're an idiot sometimes Simon, you really are." I said with a cheeky laugh.

Simon went to say something, but caught himself before he dug himself an even deeper hole than he'd dug for himself, instead just coming out of the water and taking the towel out of my bag and handing it to him. Simon wrapped himself in it then laid down on the rug, wrapped in the towel "I'd never been into this part of Exton's forests, then again we never really did go outside of town on our childhood adventures around the town." He said as he basked shirtless in the sun to try and dry off.

Looking over him, I saw several more scars running down his chest, including a really fresh one near his waist, it looked like a bullet entry point. I also noted the only slightly visible abs on his very pale abdomen.

"You having fun there Velvy?" I heard Simon said, 1 eye open and looking at me.

I immediately blushed and looked away, focusing instead on several birds skimming over the stream. Moments later I felt something fall into my lap, looking down I saw Simon making himself comfortable using my lap as a pillow, with a sandwich sticking out of his mouth.

"You're such a goofball sometimes Simon, but lucky you're a pretty adorable goofball." I said as I plucked the sandwich out of his mouth and took a bite out of it myself.

"Hey, my sandwich!" Simon pouted, looking up at me.

I rolled my eyes "Well you shoulda kept a better hold on it and kept it out of my reach." I said after I finished the sandwich.

"Fair point, damn you and your flawless logic! He said sarcastically. A contented and relaxed look on his face as he looked up at me.

I looked down at him, my long brown hair forming a veil that hid our faces from the outside world. I slowly leaned down and kissed him, his lips still moist from the dip in the stream he took and I could feel him smiling as our lips met. Simon reached up and lightly caressed my rabbit ears with utmost care and gentleness, a gentleness that most would think uncharacteristic of him but I knew to be the real Simon. I felt every muscle in my body shiver and relax with delight as he did that.

When the kiss broke I leaned back up straight and ran my hand through Simon's still shortened brown hair as his infinitely deep Blue-grey eyes stared dreamily into mine.

Then out of nowhere he reaches up and boops me on the nose. "That's for doing it to me." He giggled. I twitched my nose and poked my tongue at him. Simon just laughed and took my free hand and placed it on his chest, clasping it in his as he just lay there, taking in everything around him.

We sat there in contented silence for I don't know how long just observing the natural beauty around us. Interrupted only by Simon getting us both some more sandwiches and Raspberry lemonade.

After Simon handed his food to me he kneeled behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and put his head on my shoulder, his mouth right near my ear as he whispered. "Thank-you for this Velvet, a day with just you and I and no one else for miles around is just what I needed to make this break absolutely perfect. You've done so much for me and helped me, yet you never once asked for anything in return from me. I just wanted to say, to say that I love you Velvet." He finished by kissing my cheek. And settling himself beside me to eat.

We sat and talked for most of the morning and well into the afternoon, just enjoying the peace. Simon told stories of the scenery in Atlas and how he hoped to one day go back and actually take the time to take in the beauty of what he saw in the environment there between the hells of war. I told stories about my time at Signal or mischief that the others and I got up while he was missing. Simon smiled that we hadn't let what happened crush our spirits and we kept going without him.

Eventually I saw the time was getting on and we had to get back and pack for the trip back into Vale, despite classes starting Tuesday students had to be back by Monday to prepare for semester two. I looked to Simon who of all things had managed to fall asleep on my lap _'Absolutely incorrigible!'_ I thought happily as I slowly moved my arms to his ribs and began lightly tickling him

The reaction was immediately his eyes shot over and he rolled off me laughing and protecting his ribs. "Come on Simon, gotta start packing up to go back home." I said as I stood and began packing up the picnic, I suddenly found myself tackled to the ground, pinned under Simon who was tickling my ribs and belly back "Not so smart now aren't you Velvy?" he said as I screamed with laughter until my face was red and I had no breath left, only then did Simon stop, still straddling me. He leaned down and kissed my lips quickly before jumping up and beginning to clean and pack up. I sat there for a moment, just rolling my eyes and shaking my head at how innocently childish he could be when he's relaxed.

Once all our stuff was packed up and we were ready to leave, Simon grabbed my hand "No running back please, let us just stroll back. We got time." He said, obviously not wanting another 5km run for today, especially given this time he was laden with half the stuff we had.

I made to take off into a sprint, only to have my hand grabbed and me yanked into a light hug "Nope, not again." Simon said in a smartass tone.

I poked my tongue out and pulled his cap down over his eyes before walking back off to Exton, this time at a leisurely pace, wanting to spend just as much time in this peaceful environment with Simon as I could walking hand in hand together in a one of the rare moments of truly relaxing peace in this increasingly hostile world.

**A/N:** Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, just dialling back the tension a little bit and setting things up for Volume two. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas, be it spent in the winter wonderlands of the US and Europe or the hot and humid Christmas spent by the pool, beach or otherwise outside as is common in much of Australia, including my own family. CC-2224 Commander Signing off this final chapter of_ From Hunted to Hunter_ for 2015.


	52. Missed Departures, New Arrivals

**A/N:** Welcome to 2016, I hope you all had a merry Christmas and a very fun New Years, I know I did, though not as good as how I brought in 2015 I'll admit. The OC's that people submitted to this story are going to start appearing from here on in, so keep an eye out for them. Now let's dive right into _From Hunted to Hunter_ where we left off last year.

**CC-2224 Commander Cody** signing on for 2016.

**Chapter 51: Missed Departures, New Arrivals. Monday, Semester 2, Week 1. Downtown Vale, 3****rd**** Person PoV:**

A rookie agent, only 22 by the designation of _Fixer-6_ sat in a small apartment that he and his partner, a veteran of 15 years in _Intelligence_, _Minder-9_, had been keeping an eye on Tukson since Thursday, they kept out of sight. Using binoculars and a tap into the shops CCTV cameras that another _Fixer _agent had put in during last Thursday night.

"Ugh, this is the most boring assignment I've ever had!" _Fixer-6_ complained as he put the binoculars down.

"_Fixer_, it's the only assignment you've ever had! You've been an agent for like 6 months now, not everything is as exciting as working with a _Cipher_ agent taking down criminals. Most of what we do is sitting and passively observing like this, this is our standard mission." The much older and experienced _Minder_ said as he sat at a laptop flicking through the CCTV cameras.

The _Fixer_ just huffed and looked through his binoculars again, scanning the surrounding streets and sidewalks, looking for any and all Faunus or anyone else armed in case a threat to Tukson was identified, it didn't help their job that students from Vacuo and Mistral had already arrived the tournament, adding well over 500 more Hunters-In-Training around the city with more to come from Atlas. It drove _Intelligence_, the VPD and the VDF insane with the influx of armed people, making it harder to spot actual threats amongst those with legitimate reasons to carry arms.

Looking down the street, _Fixer_-6's binoculars trained on a very lovely looking young lady outside _From Dust Till Dawn_. Olive skin, green hair with two long locks down each side, walking with a saucy gait making the most of the curve of her hips and the way her odd white and olive top made her bust stand out, she was also armed with two pistol looking weapons right at her lower back. Though of course the young, single Fixer agent was looking at what was below the holsters.

"Hey _Minder_, come take a look at this for me? I need a 2nd opinion on something." _Fixer-6_ said, handing his high powered binoculars off to _Minder-9 _who swapped places with the younger agent.

"Ok exactly who am I looking for _Fixer_?" The older agent asked, scanning the street instinctively for armed Faunus.

"Human, Female. Brown skinned with green hair. I saw her by Old man Wiley's dust shop." _Fixer_ replied as he looked at the CCTV stream from Tukson's shop.

_Minder-9_ noted this information and quickly found the 'suspicious individual'. _Minder _shook his head in dismay. "You know we're here to keep a very valuable information source alive, not perve on girls who look younger than my twin daughters!" the old _Minder_ agent said exasperatedly.

"Oh come on, get that stick out of your prudish ass and take a proper look. Then try to tell me that isn't the nicest looking girl you've seen in a long time." _Fixer-6_ replied, his eyes glued to the CCTV feed.

"From her light clothing and intense sense of individuality in her dress and style, I'd say she's from Vacuo. Armed, but I can't see any malicious intent in her face. Nothing overly remarkable about her, except I'd say she has a very flexible and athletic fighting style." _Minder-9_ replied in the flattest and robotic of monotones. Before he smirked "Though she seems to have picked up a friend. They look close, if not intimate. I'd say Atlesian by the looks of his dull and drab colour scheme in his clothes. Sorry _Fixer_, guess you'll need to keep looking for Miss '_Right_'" _Minder_ said as he shook his head, a small chuckle in his voice.

"Well lucky guy. But if he's Atlesian, then he's probably a giant bloody douche!" _Fixer-6_ said as he sipped on the cup of tea he had beside him and took a biscuit from the plate, a shortbread cream.

_Minder_ just rolled his eye. _Fixer-6_ had been a diplomat's son and had grown up in the Valean Embassy in Atlas and had apparently grown to dislike Atlesians, he had no qualms with spying on them. Which is exactly what he'd be doing in 6 months once he'd spent a year in the field in Vale, he'd be sent to the Atlas Station to spy on our wintery friends to the North. _Minder-9_ remembered how excited the young man had been when _Minder_ had approached him to recruit him, the chance to be a real secret agent and live a double life, as many Fixer, and Minder agents do. Though _Cipher's_ normally fake their deaths and have to abandon their old lives entirely in order to take up their positions as _VI's_ elites.

_Minder-9_ ducked back from the window and handed the binoculars off to the younger agent "Keep an eye out, I just got to take a piss, I been holding it in all morning thanks to that big rush that Tukson had from tourists." The older agent said as he made his way out of the room and to the apartment's bathroom.

_Fixer_-6 just rolled his eyes at the old man and peered back out the window with the binoculars, spotting the olive skinned beauty and her Atlesian toy boy. They were outside Tukson's now and were walking in, they were currently the only other occupants of the shop apart from Tukson.

_Fixer_ put down the binoculars and looked to the CCTV feed. Hearing some footsteps behind him, _Fixer-6_ just assumed it was _Minder-9_ coming back from the bathroom. He didn't turn and thus never saw the tri-coloured hair and White-Brown eyes light up in glee as Neo silently drew her concealed stiletto blade and effortlessly stabbed it through _Fixer-6's_ torso, right through his heart, the organ still beating and ripping itself to pieces on the blade with each panicked, frantic beat. _Fixer-6_ never saw the face of his murderer nor did his death even register in his mind before his life was ripped away.

Neo eased the fallen agent onto the ground, crossing his hands over the exit wound on the front of the former_ Fixer's_ chest.

Neo heard footsteps and out came _Minder-9_, he and Neo locked eyes. _Minder's _eyes then flicked to his fallen comrade, the colour draining from his face before flicking back to the assassin who couldn't be more than 5ft and was wielding a parasol in one hand and a long stiletto blade in the other.

_Minder_-9 lunged for this _Death Adder_ SMG and fired at the ice-cream themed girl, firing all 30 of the .45ACP hollow points at Neo. Neo however simply opened her parasol and let it absorb the fire. As soon as the clicking of an empty chamber echoed through the room, Neo sprung and lunched at _Minder-9_, who swung the SMG like a club in a desperate attempt to beat the assassin. Neo slid across the ground and under the swing of the agent who was now entirely vulnerable. Lunging up the stiletto blade pierced under _Minder-9's_ ribs, tearing through his lungs and perforating the agent's heart. _Minder-9_ was dead even before Neo finished easing him onto the ground and leaving his hands in a similar position as _Fixer-6's_, the last thing he ever saw was an adorable yet sadistically gleeful smile of Neopolitan, her smile due to the perfect execution of two more targets that would become two more marks engraved into her parasol.

The agents down, Neo went about erasing the memory on the surveillance equipment before smashing it to smithereens, just as Mercury and Emerald would be doing in Tukson's shop before they left. Her job done, Neo flourished her parasol and disappeared into it with a blinding flash, leaving no evidence of her ever being there DNA or otherwise except for two dead agents and a smashed surveillance suite.

**30 minutes later, Gregory/Cipher-9's PoV:**

It had taken myself and _Minder-27_ all of 30 minutes to arrive, the VPD had already secured both the book shop and the apartment where my two agents had been placed, I'd worked with _Minder-9_ before but I'd never met _Fixer-6_, nor would I get that pleasure. _Minder_-27 and I were disguised as VPD detectives so as to not arouse people's suspicion at having _VI_ on the scene.

I walked up to a senior sergeant, the crown ringed by grass laurels on his shoulder boards denoting his rank "What do we have here Senior?" I asked, doing my best to impersonate a detective.

The officer, who looked to be late-30's, maybe early 40's just looked at me and shook his head "Looks like a targeted assassination, it's a right royal mess. Tukson, the one killed in the bookshop had known ties to the _White Fang_ and died when something hit him with enough force to completely collapse his face and front of his skull back into his brain. Goriest thing I've seen since I had to work the crime scene at the police precinct that got hit by the _White Fang_ 5 years ago, killed two officers, including a Sergeant that had gone through the academy with me… but at least the kid that the assassins were after got away, apparently he's at Beacon now, small world isn't it heh?" The Senior Sergeant said, his eyes on his scroll.

I couldn't help but chuckle, it certainly was a small world, but I focused on the job at hand "Ok, and what about in the apartment?"

The police officer just shook his head grimly. "Now that is also disturbing, but on another level to what Tukson's death was. Both agents died from a thin, probably stiletto like blade through the heart and then were placed on the ground, their hands covering the wounds on their chests, almost ritualistic. Or the assassin is simply taunting us _Cipher_ agent." The Officer said knowingly.

I looked at him, my eyebrow raised incredulously at the veteran officer, he merely laughed and closed his scroll to look me dead in the eye. "You act nothing like a detective, you actually thought your disguise would fool anyone except the media? We know its two of yours up there so we knew that the _Keeper_ would send someone to keep an eye on things and take all our evidence when we're finished and so will the coroner's reports on the bodies. This case will never go to trial, no suspects ever arrested… just an angry _Cipher_ agent and a team of the dreaded _Head Hunters_ appearing in the night and making the perpetrators disappear off the face of Remnant. We'll cooperate with your shadow games, hand over everything we find, we won't like it or what you'll do to enact 'justice' for this crime. But we know better than to go toe-to-toe with the _Keeper of Intelligence_." The Senior Sergeant spat in contempt, obviously he wasn't the biggest fan of _Intelligence_. Which was totally understandable given he enforced laws that _VI_ operated above.

I smiled politely "Well trust me, with our methods at least no smart lawyer or shoddy police work will stop the criminals we catch from escaping retribution for their transgressions. Now you mind taking me up to the apartment building? I got to inspect the scene and ensure _Keeper's_ instructions are followed with regards to information and sensitive documents present in the apartment, as well as to identify the particular agents. Thank-you for your cooperation Sergeant." I said as I motioned up to the apartment building, wanting to get this miserable duty over and done with, given it was my first failed mission. I felt bloody horrible for Tukson not getting the fresh start he, in my opinion, deserved for everything he'd given us against the _Fang_ in recent weeks.

'_When I find the person who did this, I'll slice them limb from limb then melt them with my flame gauntlets!'_ I fumed as I started up the stairs towards the grizzly scene of my fellow agents, fallen in the line of duty.

**That same time, Beacon Landing Pad. Simon's PoV:**

I'd been the only one of my team to be back at Beacon on Sunday night, it was honestly far too eerie for me to have the dorm to myself without the sounds of Nyanza antagonising Teal or Sienna trying to keep the peace. I didn't sleep a wink on Sunday night being alone in that dorm, I'd ended up drawing up plans for my new combat outfit, given I'd incinerated the majority of my old equipment and I wouldn't be using what I had left unless absolutely required to.

I stood waiting on the Landing pads after breakfast. I saw several Bullheads coming in, carrying students from Mistral, Vacuo and Vale. The Atlesian Students would be arriving later this week _'Great… Atlesians, let's hope they aren't as stuck up as I remember Atlesians being.'_ I thought in vain, as I knew how Atlesians were in their elitist attitudes.

I stood in my Beacon uniform, my black bandana around my head and a pair of sunglasses on as I saw several bullheads land and out came well over 100 students, but in that group I saw the unmistakable sandy blond of Nyanza and teal tipped blonde of Teal. They saw me and immediately ran over to me, the three of us embraced "Good to see you two, hope you enjoyed your two Simon-free weeks, because I'm back to drag you into only dust knows what this semester." I said confidently, a massive toothy grin painted across my face.

"I enjoyed it, not being yelled at, drilled like soldiers, and treated like prisoners and a room all to myself when Copper was on base. What could I want more?" Nyanza said with a chuckle.

"I'll admit a break after everything we've been through was nice, even though my break was mainly consisting of going into the _Forever Fall_ with my family to clean out Grimm from areas the VDF couldn't access." Teal said, stifling a yawn.

I shook my head "Teal, you're getting a good long sleep tonight. I need you ready to jump right back into classes tomorrow." I ordered as I turned and began making my way towards the school, the usual military lockstep I marched in gone. I now walked casually with a distinct happy spring in my step as two of the three other members of my team followed me, Teal told me that Sienna had called her earlier and said she'd be back tonight just before curfew.

We made our way back to the dorms and I flopped back onto my bed, observing my two teammates as the mimicked me.

"So Simon, how did going home work out?" Teal asked tentatively.

"It was honestly the most happy, peaceful two weeks I've had in a very long time. It was two weeks I really needed after, well after what happened the weekend that Blake went missing." I responded, sighing in relief at actually having my team, annoying as they were, back with me.

"Sounds like someone found the best form of stress relief." Nyanza laughed tauntingly, wasting no time in getting back into his usual routine of being a little shit.

I gave him a very cold stare "No, Velvet and I did NOT do THAT!" I replied, maybe a little too defensively.

Nyanza raised an eyebrow and went to say something, but stopped when I pointed a very threatening finger at him. "You're treading down a very dangerous path Nyanza, keep going down it and you'll not come out on top." I warned, a mischievous glint in my eye.

Nyanza just nodded, knowing he didn't want to cross me. I could have made this very awkward for him, but I chose to be a merciful god for once. "So you guy's excited for the tournament? Only 9 weeks until the opening ceremonies, then the tournament." I asked, deciding to change the topic for the benefit of my two teammates.

"Well I certainly am, I'm going to kick your ass in it Si!" Nyanza said in a macho, overconfident tone.

I raised an eye brow at him "Oh really, well you might want to beat me in combat class first!" I shot back smugly.

"Ha, we'll see Simon!" Nyanza said competitively.

"Boys, please… I've been back all of 5 minutes and the testosterone in here is already getting too much for me." Teal said, rubbing her temples.

"Well I guess that happens when you spend your entire break with no one except you mother and sisters. Why don't you introduce Nyanza to one of your sisters, I'm sure she could work some of the testosterone out of him!" I said to Teal, immediately beginning to laugh when she gave me the dirtiest look ever, of all time.

"Simon, I would have thought you'd be less of a dick now you're mellowing out." Nyanza said questioningly, doing his best to keep a straight face.

"Nah, I'll just be less violent... I'll always still be a taunting asshole towards you guys, privileges of being Captain." I replied with a knowing smirk.

Nyanza and Teal just collectively groaned at my still cheeky attitude towards them, even if I wasn't so angry all the time.

"Yeah, Yeah. Oi Simon, wanna go down for lunch? I heard they did this huge buffet for the students returning today as well as the ones from foreign schools, maybe we should go check it out. See what the other schools have in store for us come the tournament." Nyanza suggested, obviously wanting some of the food I'd seen being prepared earlier in the cafeteria.

I shrugged "What, doesn't your family feed you?" I chuckled.

"I skipped breakfast, I overslept and was running late." Nyanza replied.

I rolled my eyes at my unorganised teammate before looking to Teal, she honestly looked dead on her feet, but I knew she probably needed some real food after probably living off of rations in the _Forever Fall_. "Oh, what the hell… I was getting hungry as well. Besides as you said Nyanza: I got to see who I'm taking down to win that tournament." I said punching my fist into my palm.

"Please don't start a brawl in the cafeteria!" Teal pleaded as I stood and made for the door.

"Me, start a fight? Never!" I laughed sarcastically "I just finish fights." I finished, my tone now dead serious.

We walked into the now crowded cafeteria and I found a free table between Teams JNPR and a group of people from Mistral. Taking the table and leaving Teal to guard it from newcomers, Nyanza and I went to the buffet to get some food. I chose a plate of lasagne and garlic bread. While Nyanza got himself a big helping of spaghetti and he also got Teal some seafood salad with a piece of grilled fish. I also grabbed a big plate of frosted cupcakes for afterwards, may as well enjoy the food while it's here.

I turned to Nyanza before we headed back to the table "So, you still got that package I gave you before the break? I'd like it back." I said knowingly.

Nyanza stared blankly at me, his cheeks quickly going very pink and a guilty look on his face.

I simply smirked "Ahh, so you and Teal are a thing now?" I asked, looking amusedly at Nyanza as he looked thoroughly clueless about how to proceed.

"Umm, not really… it's nothing serious." He whispered to me as we started the walk back, his tone so sheepish and shy, it honestly amused me greatly.

"Well your secret is safe with me. Man this is the best day ever… I just got so much ammunition to keep you in line." I sniggered.

Nyanza groaned "Please don't be a dick about this, just be merciful towards me with this." He begged of me.

I laughed "Don't worry, I said your secret is safe. Now let's get you back to your mistress." I said as we made our way back in silence, I could tell Nyanza wished to disappear at this very moment. It seems the Taunter has been bested at the Taunting match and was unconditionally surrendering to me.

When we got back to our table and as I was eating I saw Ruby walk in with an insanely large binder and head over towards where Blake, Yang and _Snowflake_ were sitting. I decided to ignore whatever insanity Ruby had planned for her team and turn to the Mistralan sitting next to me, deciding to begin sizing up the competition.

Tapping the Mistralan on the shoulder he turned to me, violet eyes sizing me up curiously. I noted he had Teal hair, not just tips like Teal, but all of his hair was that colour. I saw in addition to his standard _Haven Academy_ uniform he wore a black scarf with what looked to be his emblem on it: Two swords and lightning.

"Hey, Welcome to Beacon. I'm Simon Alexander, though most just call me Si or Simmo." I said, offering my hand which the Mistralan stranger happily accepted.

"So the first person I meet here is a ghost, a legend. I'm Zackery Azure, but feel free to call me Zack. Nice to meet you Si." The Mistralan greeted happily, not afraid to socialise.

"Likewise, though please… never call me _Ghost_. is that your team with you?" I asked, motioning to the other Mistralan students with Zack.

"No, these are just fellow first years who also qualified for the tournament from Haven. This fellow here is Jay Arsenau, and yes before you ask, his last name is pronounced exactly how you think it is." Zack with a friendly, easy going chuckle.

I went to shake Jay's hand but I heard some yelling and booing, turning back I saw Nyanza throwing a red apple at Yang, hitting her in the face. "Nyanza, was that entirely necessary?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Yes, very necessary _Mon Capitaine_, she just said the worst pun ever… of all time!" Nyanza replied, his hands over his ears in mock pain and deafness.

I just nodded, not even caring at this point. Instead I just picked my tray up and went to turn to face Zack and Jay, to begin gathering Intel on my newfound opponents, even if they didn't know it yet. As I had the tray in my hands, out of nowhere a green apple comes flying and hits the tray, knocking the half eaten lasagne all over my uniform.

My team, JNPR and the two Mistralan boys just looked at me as I was now covered in lasagne "Zack, please hand me that custard-cream pie in front of you." I said with a deadly edge to my monotonous voice.

Without a word the pie was handed to me and I turned around "Nora, think fast!" I said as I threw the pie at the Valkyrie.

"I got it!" she sing-songed as she caught it and threw it at the RWBY table in one motion, except that her aiming was off and the pie flew right into Weiss face, everyone around just stopped and stared in shock, Nora pointing towards me, pleading her innocence.

"Well I bet that's the first and only cream pie Weiss will ever get in the face!" I heard Nyanza comment from beside me.

Everyone around us just started laughing, at least until Weiss picked up her plate of food and threw it into Nyanza's face. "Shut up you perverted fiend!" _Snowflake_ screeched as she threw the plate of 3 cream and jam scones at Nyanza, 1 hitting him in each eye and the 3rd hitting him in his still open mouth.

"Ahh my eye!" Nyanza howled as all hell broke loose with students breaking down into a spontaneous food fight.

I immediately grabbed up the plate of frosted cupcakes, there were 12 on the plate and I grabbed one and smashed it into Zack's face "Welcome to Beacon mate!" I yelled crazily as I ran and began throwing cupcakes everywhere like grenades, whooping like a madman.

I within a minute I'd fired all he cupcakes I had when I came up to Cardin, with no other option I knocked him out with the steel plate they'd came on. I could see CFVY throwing their own food see me do this, I could see Coco's look of glee easily on her face. Velvet on the other hand threw a piece of carrot cake she'd been nibbling on at me, smacking me fair in the face.

"Oh it's on now Velvy!" I called as I picked up a meat pie and threw it back, unfortunately Yatsuhashi took the hit to protect Velvet. I went to grab a 2nd meat pie but I was knocked over by Jaune who'd just taken a pawpaw to the skull.

"Get off of me you doofus!" I growled as I stood and threw Jaune at Team CFVY, they all dodged and Jaune ended up hitting the far window.

"No fair! Jaune isn't food!" Coco called out at me.

"He can be if you're hungry enough!" I yelled back as I came across several flat-bottomed ice cream cones, 6 in total. I pelted one at Coco, getting it all over her sunglasses.

"OH you're so dead Simon!" She called as she threw a bowl of soup at me, this time I managed to dodge it.

Looking around I saw chaos, Nora was now literally throwing chairs, tables and vending machines around at the far end while her team threw various foods while collecting Watermelons.

"HAHAHAHA!" I heard Nora cackle, her tenuous grip on reality now entirely gone. It was time to get out of here before we got caught up in Nora's full on insanity, and everyone else knew it to. Screams of fearful panic replaced the earlier ones of laughter and merriment.

"RETREAT!" I called to my teammates and friends as I threw the remaining ice creams at Team RWBY, scoring hits to Yang's bosom and Weiss' face, I missed the speedster Ruby because she dodged with speed and the one I threw at Blake hit one of her clones. As I ran out I saw two unfamiliar faces, a monkey Faunus and some blue haired guy. I leaped up into the air and slam dunked the final cone into the blue haired guy's hair before landing into a roll and escaping outside where hundreds of food covered students were now lazing in the courtyard in front of the building. I saw Teal and Ny with several members of Team SALT, PEPR, CFVY as well as Zackery and Jay.

"Well that was a thing." I commented with a laugh as I walked over to the group.

"Yes, Oh yeah Simon. I got something for you." Zack said walking over to me and pouring a bowl of custard on my head.

"That's for the cupcake in that food fight's opening salvo." I he said, a casual smirk on his face as he did.

"Ugh, this is going to take forever to clean!" Teal groaned, looking at her hair, now covered in only dust knows what.

"Look on the bright side, at least you didn't get anything in Yang's hair… I feel sorry for anyone who did that." Nyanza pointed out, moments before we all heard several loud bangs and crashes from inside.

"Umm should someone go in there and try to break them up?" The more cautious Jay queried.

All the Beacon students within earshot looked at Jay like he was an idiot. Laurel, a member of Team SALT ended up putting Jay in a headlock "No we should not, Nora is completely off the rails of sanity right now. So until Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch get here, for your own safety stay out." The girl with dyed green hair explained in a soft, slow cooing voice that a parent would use when explaining something to a small baby.

Moments later we saw something shoot out of the roof of the cafeteria building "Umm, what? Was that Yang?!" Pyro, the hot headed Captain of Team PEPR asked incredulously, watching the blonde flying up into the air and out of sight into the clouds.

Pyro, a Tiger Faunus with Orange hair and two tiger striped tails protruding out of his tailbone region looked at Jay who was nearly as tall as him, both being over 6ft tall. "And that is why we don't go near Nora when she's unhinged." The Tiger Faunus stated matter-of-factly.

"He's right, I pissed her off one time, and I have NEVER been hit so hard in my life. And if my luck holds I never will be again." I responded, wincing at the memory of my combat class match against Nora and Ren.

Looking around I saw Glynda storming through the gathered crowd and into the cafeteria, she looked more pissed than she had the time she'd met Kale and Shauno.

"Well I guess the fun is over." Pyro said sadly as he walked off to find his friend Theo in the mass of students.

Laurel quickly released Jay from her headlock and returned to sit with Solemn, the Captain of Team SALT as well as Solemn's twin brother Artheal, looking entirely innocent, totally not just assaulting a guest of Beacon on their first day here.

"Ok SNST, time to get out of here lest we get caught up in Category 6 Hurricane Glynda!" I ordered as I began wading through the crowd of Beacon and foreign students to begin making our way back to the dorms, my team following all three of us waving goodbye to our new Mistralan friends: The happy-go-lucky Zack and the cautious, quiet Jay, the first of many new friends and rivals that I was sure would appear in the next few months in the lead up to the tournament.

**That Night, SNST Dorms. Simon's PoV:**

Having spent the majority of the afternoon cleaning myself and my school uniform I took to finishing the designs for my new combat armour, something I think suited where I was going in life rather than where I'd been.

Hearing the door's lock click, I looked up and in walked Sienna. She you could almost feel the anger radiating off her, I couldn't tell if that anger was directed at me or not, but just in case I buried my head back into my drawings and designs lest I cause a shitstorm.

"Hey Sienna. How was your break?" Nyanza asked casually, looking up from the video game he was playing.

Sienna didn't reply, she just dumped her bags by her bed and went into the bathroom, slamming the door very hard.

"Ummm, did I fuck up?" Nyanza said sheepishly.

Looking up I just sighed "Nyanza, do you ever think before you speak? We all know she has the worst home life of us all… living with xenophobic pigs who've treated Sienna and her sister like animals for years." I said as I stood and walked over to the bathroom door and knocked on it, consequences be damned.

"Sienna, it's Simon. Are you ok in there?" I asked, concern in my voice.

"Fuck off Simon, you're the last person I want to hear from!" Was the only response I got from Sienna, I could hear the tears and sobs being choked back in her voice.

"I know, Sienna I'm not the same person I once was and I genuinely do care and I want to help, but you need to talk to me." I said softly, hoping that she would give me a chance to prove myself.

"Just fuck off! Leave me alone!" Sienna screamed as she threw something at the door.

I stepped back and pointed to Teal, then pointed to the door letting her know that this was her responsibility now to calm Sienna down a bit.

Teal just nodded and knocked on the door "Sienna, mind letting me in? I just want to talk: woman to woman." Teal asked, worried for her friend and teammate.

Slowly the door opened and Teal walked in. I turned to Nyanza "We should probably get out of here for a while, give them some space." I said firmly, as an order, not a suggestion.

Nyanza nodded and grabbed up his scroll "I'm gonna go see what Theo and Pyro are getting up to, I just know they got some end of break prank lined up." Nyanza said as he walked out. And headed towards the dorms of SALT and PEPR where Pyro and Theo lived.

I on the other hand made my way towards Beacon's rooftops, I needed some time alone because I really felt mad that I couldn't help Sienna right now and I needed to cool my head before I went and knocked Cardin out with a metal plate again, and probably his entire team.

Getting up to the roof I looked across at the lower portion and saw Jaune and Pyrrha sparing. Jaune had certainly improved, it now took Pyrrha at least 5 moves to defeat him rather than 2, maybe 3 it did after the events of the _Forever Fall_, but he was still a next to useless combatant.

I watched them continue sparing when I begin feeling my scroll vibrating in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw an incoming call from Gregory. "Evening Gregory, how've you been?" I asked, happy to hear from my old friend for the first time in weeks.

"How have I been? I've just spent all day cleaning up an absolute clusterfuck of an op… two agents dead, and someone whose life was my responsibility also dead! I'm pissed Simon, so fucking pissed." Gregory responded, it was obvious he'd been drinking, his words were horridly slurred.

"Fuck man, what about you? Are you injured?" I asked, assuming there'd been a firefight with the _Fist_ over a deserter.

"No, I wasn't there, this was something else I was involved with indirectly… listen I'm coming to Beacon tomorrow night, I have something I need you to deliver for me. This is really important, so don't screw it up Simon! You're fulfilling the last wishes of a man denied the chance at redemption we so often take for granted." Gregory ordered.

"Mate, are you ok? You sound really shaken." I asked, the euphoria of my time with Velvet in Exton giving way to the reality that the world around me was still crumbling, my teammates distrustful of me and now Gregory coming apart at the seams.

"I'm fine, I promise. I just hate seeing deserters, people like us just wanting to make a new life away from their mistakes get killed only hours before their escape to freedom and Vacuo. Also, meet me at Junior's on Friday night, we still got many more deserters to save and I doubt the _Fist_ will give us too much of a break while they're focused on terrorising the _Fang_ and their sympathisers." Gregory said, I heard him down another shot of what I was guessing Vodka.

"I got it Gregory, I'll be there. Now you take care, and try to sober up for next time _Keeper_ has need of you mate. We'll get this job done in no time!" I replied, worried for my friend but also trying to reassure him and not let on I was worried.

"I will, trust me I'm not going to let myself get killed now after all I've lived through. I'll see you Friday." Gregory farewelled before ending the call.

I sighed, I felt pretty useless right now. Gregory and Sienna were extremely distressed and I couldn't do anything to help them. I couldn't help but chuckle morbidly "Guess this is what it was like for my team to deal with me for the last 4 months" I muttered to myself as I began making my way back to the dorms where hopefully Sienna had calmed down.

Walking back I went past RWBY and JNPR's dorm rooms, coming down the other direction was Blake. Immediately, involuntarily I snapped ridged, walking in the military lockstep I usually did in my first months here. I nodded a curt greeting to the incognito Faunus "Nice to see you Blake, hope you're well after going toe-to-toe with JNPR in that food fight?" I said, genuine sincerity in my voice, wanting to actually put the effort in to undo the damage I'd done do her life, even if she did forgive me.

Blake looked to me, slightly startled as she'd been reading a book. "Oh Simon, I didn't notice you there. Umm, that fight was interesting. Never before have I seen turkeys and swordfish used as weapons." The Faunus replied, actually looking up from her book to look at me.

I rolled my eyes "For the record, I totally did NOT start that food fight… I blame Yang." I said with a small laugh.

"Umm who was it who gave Nora that pie again?" Blake shot back accusingly, but with the smallest of smirks.

"Some Mistralan, it totally was them. How pissed was Weiss by the end of it though? Am I up shit creek?" I queried, nervous that I was once again going to have to apologise to Weiss.

"Actually, she had enough fun that she didn't care that she was completely covered in food and had to spend all afternoon trying to clean her hair up. And I'm actually serious on that point." Blake replied.

"Well that's a relief, well I'll let you get back to your team. I'll see you in classes." I farewelled as I walked away, feeling guilty I didn't tell her about her deceased friend, but it was probably best till I had all the details of what had happened and who this person even was. _'May as well let her have 1 more day of care-free happiness'_ I thought as I got back to my own dorm. Walking in I saw Sienna fast asleep and Teal sitting beside her. I looked at her and motioned for Teal to step outside for a moment.

When Teal joined me I looked at her firmly, yet caringly "And? What's gotten under Sienna's skin so badly?" I asked, giving Teal a very stern look.

Teal looked at me and scratched her head "It's her foster family, they run a farm and they hired some new help. Said help are _Black Fist_ soldiers who help out around the farm and keeps the local Faunus away from their property in exchange for taking a portion of their produce to feed the local _Black Fist_ garrison of about 30 people." Teal whispered, looking around to make sure CRDL or anyone else was around.

"Well that explains why she was so pissed at me. Anything else, there's got to be more than that?" I pressed, I had to know what was going on.

"The _Black Fist_ soldiers had used Sienna's sister as practice for various torture techniques and use of blunt force weapons in battle." Teal explained.

"Wow, and how has Sienna not just killed everyone there and taken her sister out of that hellhole?" I asked, now starting to worry what had happened.

"When Sienna got back the _Black Fist_ troops were nowhere to be seen the entire time she was there. Her time there her sister and family acted like everything was ok. She only found out what was going on after she was on the airship back to Beacon when she found a letter from her sister explaining what was happening on that farm in great detail, hence why she was extremely upset." Teal explained, looking very distressed for her friend and teammate.

"Well this semester has certainly hit high tempo and we haven't even had a single class yet. I'll keep trying to get through to Sienna and I'll try to find a way to help her sister out. I'm sure you already know this but we go on our first mission on Monday, week 4 so we need to unfuck our situation by then or we're all liable to end up dead" I said, slightly fearful that our feuds may actually get someone killed.

Teal nodded "I'll do my best to help her out and try to convince her you've changed, but don't get your hopes up right now." Teal said as she opened the dorm door back up. "Come on, we should probably get some sleep. Nyanza's staying with SALT tonight, seems them and Pyro and PEPR are up to no good." She added.

"Right, I'm sure I'll be bailing them all out of Goodwitch's officer tomorrow morning." I said as I rolled into bed, ready for the next semester to begin tomorrow.

**A/N: **Well here it is, 2016 is off and running. I start up a summer job next Monday, but I'll try to update as quick as I can, try to avoid a repeat of last year with weeks on end without an update.

I'd like to thank the following people for submitting the OC's featured or mentioned in this chapter:

_Theo_ (Team SALT) and _Pyro_ (Team PEPR) belong to **Lord Rage Quit** (Pyro and Theo feature in their own Fanfic named: "A New Chance")  
_Zackery Azure_ belongs to **Tommy2486  
**_Jay Arsenau _belongs to **loljay969  
**_Solemn _and _Artheal_ _Achernar _(Team SALT) belong to **DownTownAlpha.**

If your OC didn't appear in this chapter, do not worry there are still plenty of chapters to come and all will be seen both in and out of combat. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I wish you all a happy 2016. –CC Signing off.


	53. Same Story, Different Stages

**A/N:** Guess whose back with another chapter for your enjoyment, I got asked a couple questions about the last chapter that I'll explain in the story. I always enjoy questions or people pointing out plot holes or things that you find confusing and want clarification about, it allows me to make this story even better for you all. I was asked who created _Laurel_ from Team SALT, well she was one of my OC's. If I don't credit an OC to someone, then I created it for the story.

I'd like to send a shout out to **wa7chface** and their story _'The Evil of Men'_ which is an expansion and tie in with '_From Hunted to Hunter' _taking place within my AU, but from another team's point of view. So please take a look at it and give them some feedback about how they're going with their fanfic. Same goes with _'Dog _Days' by **xThatOnePersonx** which explains a lot about Vale's feared _Head Hunters_ and has a few cameos by my characters such as Keeper, Kale, Shauno and Alpha Team.

I'll just say this now: if anyone reading this ever wants to borrow my ideas or characters for a story of their own, then feel free to ask me via PM. I'll almost certainly always grant permission to anyone who asks.

Now before I start rambling: onto the story –CC signing on.

**Chapter 52: Same Story, Different Stages. Tuesday Morning, S2 Week 1. Simon's PoV:**

I awoke well before sunrise, about 3:30am. I had a long day ahead of me and so much to do before classes even began. Silently slipping into a set of overalls I made my way out of the dorm and down to Beacon's forges, I had a completed my designs for my new combat armour and now I had to make it before combat class this afternoon, I was lucky because I also had a free period in the 2nd session of the day, after Professor Oobleck's class in order to get this completed.

Entering the forges I went straight to my assigned lockers and grabbed out my old _White Castle Guard_ uniform, the chest guard, shoulder and arm armour as well as the helmet. The chrome armour with white trimmings had never really sat well with me for use at Beacon, it made me feel like too much of a SDC stooge, though I was actually looking forward to customising this into something truly mine rather than wearing tattered, blood soaked remnants of my past.

I immediately discarded of the gloves and forearm armour as my _Vindex Umbra_ gauntlets would provide protection for my arms and I preferred to not use gloves, not even fingerless ones when fighting as they softened my punches when I threw them. I also put the helmet aside as I had other plans for my headgear of choice.

Turning to the chest armour, I took three bullet and knife resistant ceramic plates, painted black that I'd organised to have sent to me from Atlas during my break in Exton. The first two pieces had been customised for the curve and shape of my sides from bottom of my ribcage to hips and the third piece was shaped to my lower back and interlocked with the pieces that protected my flanks. I affixed one plate to the bottom of the chest piece, and added Velcro straps to the bottom of the plates so that they could be secured at the bottom as well while allowing me to retain flexibility while protecting my flanks that are left vulnerable by the standard armour as well as from any cowards who want to try to shoot or stab me in the back.

Happy with the practical modifications I'd made, though on the whole I was sceptical about the armour due to the added 12 pounds of weight it brought with it once compared to my original _Black Fist _body armour I added my bandolier and other webbing to it as well as the slight reduction in flexibility but this armour gave much more protection than my original _Black Fist_ body armour and given my experiences with the _Fang_ and _Fist _in recent months I had decided the trade-off was worth it if they truly had supplies of Aura penetrating weaponry. I picked up the armour and took it over to one of the painting booths, Beacon Students were encouraged to customise and personalise their equipment as part of the core principles of Beacon: _Individuality _&amp; _Freedom of Expression_. Picking up a spray gun I began coating the once chrome and white trim with a jet black colour as the base colour of my new armour, but I had more plans for it once it dried by the time that paint had dried.

Having completed what work on my armour I began packing up my tools and cleaning the work bench for the next person who needed it. As I was cleaning I heard the door to the forges open and footsteps entering the room. _'Must be Rubes, she's the only one I can think of who'd be awake at this time of morning and be in the forges.'_ I thought as I didn't turn and just continued with my cleaning. "Morning Rubes, you're up early, hope you didn't wake _Snowflake _up on your way here of there'll be hell to pay for the both of us." I said in a jovial tone as I greeted Ruby.

Instead I just heard an unfamiliar laugh "Whose _Snowflake_ and Rubes? Two girls you share a room with, or maybe a bed with?" Came a sassy female voice from behind me, I choked and did a quick about face to see a young female Faunus, by the looks of the wings on her back, a bird type Faunus. "Mind if you stopped staring? I mean haven't you ever seen a girl with wings before?" The Faunus girl said, with even more attitude.

'_Here we fucking go!'_ I thought, deciding it was too early to be dealing with people's crap.

"Ha, no they are not my teammates or lovers. But thanks for assuming I'm such a handsome womaniser." I replied in a monotone.

"Well someone seems overly sure of themselves. Sorry but egocentric narcissists just aren't my type." The girl asked as she began stripping down her weapon, it looked like an old fashioned Thompson SMG with a drum magazine, at least until I saw the toothed chain inside it, obviously to turn it into a lethal chainsaw as a melee option.

I shook my head "Sorry to disappoint but I'm in a committed relationship, but I can introduce you to my teammate, miss umm" I trailed off, unsure exactly who I was speaking to. It certainly wasn't a Beacon student, I knew that much.

"The name is Flicker McKraken, I'm a first year from Shade. Nice to meet you, I'll just call you 'Rubes' Snowflake, it seems to suit you from the red flush on your pale Atlesian skin." The peach skinned Vacuan chuckled as she went to work replacing the moving parts in her weapon, starting with the well-used chainsaw chain.

'_Christ, if this is what all Vacuans are like, I'm never going to Vacuo! If I want to get insulted I'll just take Nyanza drinking with Gregory and the snipers!'_ I thought irritably as I finished up my cleaning. "My name is Simon, Please don't ever call me Rubes' Snowflake, it has connotations to it I prefer to not think about." I responded, trying not to think of Weiss as being Ruby's, I would not want to be the one to explain to Mr Schnee that his daughter was a lesbian or even bi-sexual. I managed to survive pissing him off once, I did not want to risk butting heads with him again.

"Riiiiight. So why are you up so early?" Flicker asked, not looking at me as her hands moved quickly over her weapon removing and replacing parts.

"Just working on a little project, and what about you? Most sane people are asleep given we have classes soon." I asked, as I began making my way towards the exit of the forges.

"Couldn't sleep, Vale is heading into winter. Its way too cold for me, having come from an isolated part of Vacuo, named _Brimstone_ and as the name suggests, it's the closest thing to hell that exists on Remnant. So I came down here to where it's a bit warmer" Flicker said.

I immediately turned and faced the girl, noting the robotic arm she had as her entire left hand from shoulder to finger tips. "You said you're from _Brimstone_? Can you tell me anything about a battle near there some time recently? A close friend of mine was a Vacuo Desert Raider and he was killed near there." My mind going into overdrive.

Flicker stopped work and for the first time turned to face me. "Not very much except that it happened and the Raiders took a lot of casualties and lost a lot of equipment. Normally we scavenge the remains of battles for parts and tradeable supplies, but the Raiders sealed off the entire area and took everything and won't let people near it. I was at Shade at the time but my parents wrote me, complaining about for the first time in years having a full time militia presence in the settlement. I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but I can't help you if you're looking for details about what happened." She said, sincerely apologetic.

"That's fine, thanks for at least trying. Goodbye Flicker." I said as I exited the Forges quickly, my mind now fully alert and a shot of adrenalin in my system as I got out my scroll and typed out a message to Sergeant Sanderson, hoping he'd been having more luck in Atlas at deciphering the data stick he'd gotten from Ty.

**3 hours later, Atlas. David Sanderson's PoV: **

Looking at the message Simon had sent me about meeting the former Brimstone local and explaining how much effort and expense that Vacuo was going to in order to hide what had happened had made me realise just how difficult this investigation would be. I'd spent weeks meeting casing several potential hackers or cryptanalysts all with ties to the _Atlesian Signals Directorate_ or the _Atlas Military_, but all so far had proven unworthy in either insufficient skill or had shady backgrounds or dealings in the underworld or the fact they had been drummed out of the military for dishonourable acts, I had no tolerance for those who disgraced the uniform that Ty and I had fought in for many years. _'Thank-you Cipher-9 for running background checks on these fuckers'_ I thought as I shredded the documents I'd been sent and were now finished with.

Looking at the time I decided that I had to take a new approach to find someone I could actually trust to crack this data sticks security and not steal or sell the contained information. Taking a sip of whiskey I grumbled "I can't believe I'm calling these assholes for help!" I thought as I made my way to the CTC link inside my home and punched in the frequency for Kale and Shauno, two guys I'd be happy if I could avoid seeing ever again due to how infinitely annoying they were.

The dial rings four times and on the 5th I get an answer "This better not be a collect call you asshole." I hear Shauno yawn, obviously I'd woken him up.

"You're rich, you can pay for it you fuck-knuckle." I respond in an insulting, condescending tone.

"Fuck you Sanderson. Now what do you want?" Shauno growled, still not fully awake.

"I need your SDC contacts, preferably a hacker or cryptanalyst. A really good one as well, all the one's I've been meeting or casing, including my former friends who worked signal intelligence are all untrustworthy scumbags who'd sooner sell me out than help me.

Shauno grunted then clicked his tongue in thought "I do know one guy, he's still with SDC as a freelance consultant among other big tech and security firms. I'll give him a call and send him your way, he's the best hacker I know, could hack his way into Beacon's network from Atlas if he so desired to, or at least I'm 99% sure he could." Shauno replied, his mind beginning to function normally, well as normal as either of the sniper's minds could function.

"Thanks Shauno, I'll let you get back to sleep." I responded, a new lifeline thrown my way to complete Ty's final mission to me, which in all honesty was not going at all well. _'I just hope Simon and Gregory are having more luck.'_ I thought as I poured another drink.

**Doctor Oobleck's Class. Simon's PoV:**

Having managed to get a couple extra hours of sleep, I now sat in Oobleck's class, waiting for him to begin his class. As usual about a minute before class began, now filled with students from all four academies Oobleck burst in with his usual blurring speed and appeared at the front, drinking down coffee.

"Now class, as you all remember, last semester we talked about the _White Fang_ during several of our lessons, but today I, in response to events of the past month want to cover their human counterparts: _The Order of the Black Fist_. A Human Supremacist organisation who were highly active in Atlas during the last several years and have since become active within both Vale and Mistral. With the stated goal of enslaving or exterminating the Faunus." Oobleck began.

I felt my stomach knot and my chest constrict painfully, I could see up on the board, several photos of the _Black Fist_ emblem, the territory they held at their peak as well as photos of several leaders including Carvel, Lachlan and Donovan, though just who commanded the _Fist_ overall back in Atlas was still shrouded in mystery to all but the highest ranked members.

"This group was originally formed out of militias and civil defence groups in outlying villages in Atlas who were without military protection from Grimm or _White Fang _attacks, however as time went on and the group grew: a more extreme and intolerant ideology was adopted in response to the turn to violence by the _White Fang_ and they clashed, eventually leading to a war that killed tens of thousands of people and thousands more indirectly through increased Grimm activity around Atlas, though outside of the direct conflict zones where armed groups kept Grimm non-existent in their areas of control through the usual actions of war." Oobleck introduced, proceeding to spend the lesson describing almost word for word what I'd learnt in my own indoctrination procedure.

I felt Velvet reach over and squeeze my thigh gently, just letting me know she was there for me. It honestly helped me to stay strong and not break throughout the lesson.

"Mr Alexander, you spent time fighting against the _Fist_, do tell me. What event brought about the beginning of the end of the _Atlesian Black Fist_?" Oobleck asked, leaning towards me, his eyes looking straight into mine through his glasses.

"Their downfall was brought about by three major events: First there was the assassination of a member of the Atlas Council by a group of yet unidentified and uncaught snipers. Then there was the attempt by the _Black Fist_ to break the territory it had de facto control over to form a 5th kingdom, free of Faunus. This led to the third event which was the massive campaign by then Major General James Ironwood as well as the splitting of the _Black Fist_ between those loyal to the kingdom and those wanting to go ahead with forming their 5th kingdom. The Loyalists being pardoned and reintegrated into Atlesian society and their military and the secessionists being killed to almost the last man." I responded in an almost mechanical tone, my eyes not once straying from staring straight back at Doctor Oobleck.

The Doctor just smiled "Exactly, their own arrogance and ignorance and attitude in thinking they could do as they pleased without consequence is what led to their downfall and almost entire extermination. The same could be said about how they rose in prominence. The murderous rampage of the _White Fang_ 5 years ago, killing thousands again is what led to the rise of the _Black Fist_. This is exactly what I mean by hatred and ignorance breeding violence. Only through tolerance between Faunus and Humans can we truly attain peace and succeed in driving the Grimm further from our cities. Class dismissed, Mr Alexander, can you please stay for a moment." Oobleck said as everyone hurried out. Velvet blowing me a kiss and signalling she'd wait for me outside.

Once the classroom was empty I turned to Oobleck "Simon, I had several rather enlightening chats with Professor Ozpin over the break when putting together this impromptu addition to my course, he told me about your past, your real past. I'll be continuing to call upon you whenever I need answers about the _Black Fist_." Oobleck stated, not giving me a say in the matter.

I frowned "I may not be deliberately hiding my past, but I also do not want it broadcast around the school and Vale, making me a piece of propaganda for the _Fang_. I'd rather just stay silent in those conversations Doctor." I replied.

"I'm sorry Simon but that isn't an option. You have very unique insights and knowledge about the _Fist_ that can't be found anywhere else. The most important part of my job as a teacher is ensuring that the best, most accurate knowledge is passed on through my classroom to the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. This is why I call on you to help me, help the rest of us to know our new enemy and then defeat it, for the _Fist _seems to have learnt from their past mistakes." Oobleck countered, making very good points about everything he said.

I grunted, wanting to refute his points, but being able to think of any logical counters. So I resigned myself to being the encyclopaedia on all things terror related be it _Black Fist _or _White Fang_ apparently. "Ok Doctor, I'll give you what information I can in return for not having to do any readings or essays on the topic" I stated, giving the good Doctor no choice in the matter.

He however just nodded, pushed up his glasses and bolted out of the room, leaving me there alone. Exiting the classroom I saw Velvet waiting for me as she'd promised "You ok Simon? I can see the stress in your eyes." She said worriedly.

"I'm fine, I promise you that. I just got taught a valuable lesson by Oobleck about passing on valuable knowledge. Now aren't you meant to be in Professor Peaches' class right now? Skipping classes, bad bunny." I said playfully, flicking Velvet lightly on the nose.

"Their class is just next door and I got plenty of time to get there you idiot." Velvet retorted with a cheeky grin.

"I'm certainly talking to Coco about how sassy you've become, this is definitely her doing!" I said sarcastically, knowing fully well I had a hand in making Velvet a smartass as well.

Velvet just rolled her eyes at me "Stop blaming Coco every time use logic to refute things you say."

I went to speak but once again I found no viable comeback "You win this one Scarlatina!" I said as I leaned in and kissed her lovingly on the cheek, letting my lips linger just a moment longer than usual "I'll see you later, I got a spare right now and am headed to the forges." I said waving my girlfriend farewell.

"Sure, come by the CFVY dorm after classes or on the weekend, we'll be preparing to leave for our mission so we're busy packing right now in our spare time and going over everything." She called out to me as I walked off.

**Later That Day, Combat Class. Simon's PoV:**

I sat in the combat class stands, wearing my newly painted and dried armour and a poncho over it, I had no desire to show anyone the artwork I'd done on it until I was called up to a match, I could see several curious looks from those around me and Nyanza got a smack in the gob for trying to peak under the poncho to see the artwork. Looking around I saw Mistralan, Vacuan and also Atlesian students who had arrived this morning aboard a small fleet of military airships: 3 Destroyers, 2 troopships (1 of which was for students), 1 heavy cruiser (Ironwood's personal flagship) and a replenishment ship.

In walked Miss Goodwitch, a disgruntled look on her face. "Good morning students, Welcome your 2nd semester's first combat class. Before we begin just a few things. First off I'd like to welcome our counterparts from Shade, Haven and Atlas who will be joining us in classes from now until the tournament and Vytal Festival concludes, I expect you to conduct yourselves in a way that will shine positively on our school and that you treat our guests with dignity and respect." Goodwitch said demandingly and firmly, her gaze threatening untold horror for transgressions.

"Next to Beacon students, you're probably wondering how you qualify for the tournament. Well to answer that question, you will all remember that all through last semester you took part in many combat duels in this class. In each one you were graded and ranked. Only the top 12 students in your class of 40 will qualify to join the tournament's first year division. There you will fight the top 12 first years from the other academies in single combat through several rounds until a grand champion is crowned." Goodwitch explained how the tournament would work, so we'd only be facing other first years.

"If you'd direct your attention to the screens you'll see the current rankings of the Beacon First Years, the final 12 will be decided 4 weeks before the tournament so there is still time to work your way into the top 12." Goodwitch continued on as the screens lit up with the current rankings of our class which went:

**1/ Pyrrha Nikos (JNPR)  
2/ Yang Xiao Long (RWBY)  
3/ Nora Valkyrie (JNPR)  
4/ Weiss Schnee (RWBY)  
5/ Simon Alexander (SNST)  
6/ Ruby Rose (RWBY)  
7/ Pyro (PEPR)  
8/ Solemn Achernar (SALT)  
9/ Teal Wolfsbane (SNST)  
10/ Blake Belladonna (RWBY)  
11/ Edward Laura (MELT)  
12/ Ocean Storm (ORCD)  
**13/ Sienna Reynolds (SNST)  
14/ Lie Ren (JNPR)  
15/ Willow Oak (SHDW)

I looked through the list, seeing Nyanza coming in at number 18. And I also had a small chuckle that CRDL came in at 36-39 and Jaune at 40, the lowest ranked students and it was absolutely impossible for any of them to make it to the tournament. I was honestly surprised I'd ranked so high after suffering several defeats and missing weeks with injury, but when I had one: I'd won pretty convincingly and when I'd lost it had always been close.

"Remember this isn't the final 12, so work and fight hard and you might find yourself climbing the ladder into the bolded names and getting your chance at the tournament. That being said it is time to move onto our matches for today. The first match shall be: Simon Alexander (5) vs Sky Lark (36)." Goodwitch said as she cleared the middle of the arena for myself and the top ranked CRDL member to take centre stage.

As I got down there I put down my staff and took off my black full body poncho to reveal my new combat ensemble: My Combat boots and new padded black combat pants, with my customary armoured knee guard. The waist of my old webbing without the shoulder straps that was lined with grenade pouches, my bandolier crossing over the jet black chest plate, though that too had been altered again. My dominant let shoulder plate had been painted with a very beautiful looking sunset using bright reds, pinks, golds for the sun and sky and green for the grass which had _"SNST" _stencilled white paint over the middle of the grassy patch.

Over my heart, partially obscured by my bandolier was my symbol: the silhouettes of my gauntlets with the extended blades crossed and my staff with its blades extended standing vertically with the middle of the top blade passing through the cross made by the two gauntlet blades, had been stencilled in white paint contrasting against the black base coat. On my right shoulder was just a list of first and last initials in gold paint and very small writing: the initials of people I'd lost: people like my parents, Ty Kruger, Sophia Volker, Sarah Hogan, Ander Smith and the other orphans who'd died beside me during our trial or afterwards. It was very sentimental, probably too sentimental but I felt the need to keep those I'd lost with me at all times in a fight. It had taken me almost all of my spare to stencil and paint it all in and most of my lunch break to dry it all out with a heater, but it was entirely worth it to have something entirely unique to me and not to keep wearing the uniform of a group who was now my enemy.

Tying my black bandana around my head and picking up _Umbra Vigilans _I faced Sky Lark, I could see the slight fear in his eyes at having to fight the man who'd nearly killed Cardin and had threatened to lop of the mace wielder's fingers. "You're going to submit in this match Sky, there will be no quick Aura level defeat for you." I said evilly as I flicked my wrist and extended the blades on my staff.

Sky said nothing and instead charged at me, firing explosive dust rounds to knock me of balance. I lunged and rolled to my right, lobbing a dust grenade at my opponent as I stood up and swapped my staff into its ranged mode. I'd overthrown the grenade and sky managed to punt kick it back at me, with it exploding mid-way between us, peppering both of us with pellets and draining both our auras to about 90/100. I fired a long stream of flechettes, hearing several of them hitting Sky's chest plate until he jumped out of the way and fired more explosive dust rounds towards me. I rushed forward, sliding underneath the rounds barrelling towards me I commando rolled forward, coming out of it at a full sprint as I closed the distance with sky quickly swinging upwards on an angle, aiming for under Sky's ribcage.

Sky held his Halberd vertically and jutted it forward, the shafts of our weapons clanging together, the two of us Jostled, angling and pushing our polearms trying to force the other to give ground. I changed my footing and stepped backwards making sky overbalance and fall forward, I spun on my right heel and got in behind him, slicing his side with my rearward blade as I spun and stabbing him in the back with my front blade as I finished the spin, using my momentum to add an extra punch to the stabbing strike. It sent Sky slamming straight down into the hard ground of the arena.

I followed it up by jumping up into the air and spearing myself into him, leading with my armoured knee guards hitting the middle of his back which pushed sky deeper into a small crater that had formed. I went to grapple him into an arm bar but he managed to roll over and kick me off him, him rolling backwards and standing up as I flipped up, weapon already back in hand.

I decided to mix things up a bit and withdrew two smoke grenades from a pouch and dropped them, retreating into the smoke and putting on my thermal goggles, and hefting my staff to my hip I fired a long stream of flechettes, hitting the now blinded Sky who began firing explosive round in to the smoke, missing me every time. Once the magazine had run empty I charged through the smoke at full pace and slammed into Sky's head with my now armoured shoulders. Sky went airborne as I made contact and I angled my shoulders and slammed him into the ground, making CRDL's Halberdier suffer for his crimes against the Faunus and for just being a general dick.

I punt kicked Sky in the ribs, leaving him sprawled out on the ground before retreating to range and reloading the magazine in _Umbra Vigilans_ as I watched Sky get back up, looking groggy as anything. "What's wrong Sky? Don't like it when you got to fight 1v1 against someone who can fight back?" I yelled out tauntingly as I racked the bolt on my staff, chambering a flechette.

"Fuck you Simon! You think you're so tough for standing up for the Faunus, that you're so special for fucking a Faunus! But in reality you're just guilty: Guilty of killing Faunus for years, treating them like the scummy animals they are." Sky snarled, looking really happy with himself when I growled angrily.

Charging in I collapsed the forward blade and used the staff as a vault to clear Sky's horizontal slash with the halberd and I spiked the rear blade down into the top of his head as I was in mid-air. The strike smashed Sky into the ground, his Aura at 26, just 1% above the red levels set for these training matches.

I landed my flip shakily and walked over to Sky's crumpled form, holstering my staff and picking up Sky's halberd and put the shaft of it against his throat and slowly began strangling Sky until his face was blue and he tapped in submission, begging for breath. I stood and dropped his halberd's blade onto his head, as I pushed myself up and him back down into the ground and walked out of the arena, happy with how my new armour had held up in its first outing, though I did feel constricted around the sides when I tried to vault but I had time to work on it before the tournament, hopefully at more competent opponents.

Returning to my team I saw Nyanza and Teal looking at my new armour "Didn't know you could paint Simon, didn't have you picked for the artsy type." Teal commented.

"And I didn't have you picked as Nyanza's type either, guess we all got something to learn about each other." I replied in a mechanical monotone, but with an impish grin across my face.

Teal sat there dumbfounded, then shot Ny a dirty look, mouthing a veiled and silent threat to the boy she turned back to me "You just be thankful Goodwitch is here or I'd strangle you with your own bandana."

I just shrugged, resisting the urge to make another comment about her and Ny's sexual relationship lest I get dismembered by Teal. I was dragged from my thoughts by Goodwitch announcing the next match.

"Next up will be Yang Xiao Long (2) and Theo (16) vs Nyanza Torres (18) and Pyro (7) Combatants please take your places." Goodwitch commanded.

"Oh yeah, this is going to be fun." Nyanza said happily as he sprinted and vaulted down into the arena instead of taking the usual path.

He was quickly joined by PEPR's captain and the too fist bumped each other.

**3****rd**** Person PoV:**

Nyanza turned to Pyro "So you take on Theo, I got our lovely lady friend." He said as he twirled his new pistols in his hands like a gunslinger from the movies.

"Pfft, you wish she'd be your lady friend dude!" Theo called out from across the arena.

"Oi fuck you Theo! This is a private conversation, besides it's not like you haven't wanted to take Yang out on a date before either!" Nyanza called out, a joking, friendly tone in his voice.

"Umm you know I'm right here boys?" Yang said, stating the obvious.

"We know Yang, and don't pretend you don't like it when these two fight over you or get jealous because I actually did get to date you back in Signal." Pyro called out, pointing out Yang's love of attention and slight vanity.

The four friends just stood their laughing and bantering, completely oblivious to the fact that Goodwitch had started the match. "Students, please this is combat class, not the cafeteria" Goodwitch mumbled through her facepalm.

"Oh right, let's get this party started!" Nyanza said as he brought up his pistols and fired them at Yang who used _Ember Celica_ to block the rounds before firing them behind her to propel herself towards the ballistic bladesman. Nyanza who knew Yang's playbook off by heart kicked off up into the air and unleashed two tethered blades at Yang, quickly striking at Yang, manoeuvring the blades' tethers around the blonde brawler's arms. As Nyanza landed he used slung Yang through the air, into the ceiling then falling to the ground, depleting Yang's aura moderately.

"Come on Yang, you've been falling for that one for years! You really need to spend more time on new moves and less time on your hair and wardrobe!" Nyanza taunted, standing with his arms crossed and a smug grin on his face, admonishing the busty blonde brawler.

Meanwhile on the other side of the arena, Theo and Pyro were moving at breakneck speed. Pyro attacking with his gauntlets, spewing flames as he clawed at Theo with his weapons named _Pain &amp; Tolerance _which were tipped by 10-inch claws over each finger. Theo, currently armed with a large shield and a great sword _Arctic Wall_ blocked the some of the strikes with the large shield he wielded the defensively styled Theo kept backpedalling, keeping Pyro just out of punching or clawing range, using the shield to absorb the majority of the flames.

"Come on Theo, do you ever attack? Never taking the initiative, this is why you never get dates!" Pyro teased as he kicked at Theo's legs, trying to trip him up.

Theo slammed his shield down on Pyro's feet, pinning in at jabbing out instantly with his sword, striking Pyro's chest before slamming his shield up and forward, catching his best friend in the chin, following up with a cutting strike at Pyro's side, this however was stopped by a gauntlet as Pyro combusted, activating his semblance. Going unleashing with a roar of flames Pyro picked hip and speared Theo into the ground, immediately following it up by grabbing Theo by the shoulders, cutting into him with the claws as he gripped and throwing him into a pillar lining the ring. Charging in at full speed Pyro tried to finish off Theo with one massive aura infused punched but instead just hit Theo's shield, the resulting shockwave causing a crater to form and shattered the damaged pillar.

The flames died on Pyro's body, to conserve his Aura. The two friends smirked at each other "So Pyro, you cocky bastard, just so you know. I'm patient, not lacking aggression, I wait for the opportune moment to take the initiative, which is why my relationships tend to last longer, be happier and end amicably, unlike yours with the exception of Yang." Theo said as he slammed his shield and sword together, the two weapons transforming to form a large battle axe and taunted his best friend where he knew he'd hit a raw nerve.

Pyro just shook his head." Hey, I'm just a young man enjoying the party scene!" he said as Theo came at him, swapping to offence having seen that Pyro was distracted mentally. Pyro jumped and unleashed a stream of flames at Theo, who without his shield bore the brunt of it for but a moment before he rolled out of the way, as Pyro landed he was met with a pinpoint strike by Theo's massive axe, sending Pyro careening straight into Nyanza who had just been punched into mid-air by Yang. The pair crumpled to the ground, Pyro's aura was at 33/100 while Nyanza was still at 52.

"Thanks for breaking my fall mate, you make for a pretty soft landing, and no wonder Yang still enjoys hugging you." Nyanza said teasingly as he fired a tethered gauntlet, spider manning himself up to the top of a pillar and firing his pistols down at Theo while he was anchored up high, the big 10mm rounds slamming one after another into Theo's head, back and shoulders, Ny got 8 rounds off before Theo finally managed to disassemble his axe back into sword and shield and absorb the incoming rounds.

Theo dodged Ny's fire until Ny had to reload, once the last round fired, Theo threw his shield at Nyanza.

"Oh Fuck, not again!" Ny said as he unanchored himself and pushed off as hard as he could off of the pillar. The shield hit the pillar, unleashing Theo's semblance: he absorbed energy from opponents when he landed successful strikes and funnelled it into his shield, he then could throw said shield and when it hit something it unleashed the energy as an explosion.

Nyanza managed to avoid the release of the energy, crash tackling into Theo, him with the grips of his pistols as revenge. "You motherfucker… how dare you ruin my Spiderman moment!" Nyanza complained as he pistol whipped Theo. Theo slammed his shield up into the side of Ny's head, knocking him off the swordsman.

"Come on Ny, let's not reduce ourselves to rolling in the dirt fighting dirty like your captain tends to. Let's settle this like men." Theo said smirking as he stood in his defensive stance.

"Fine then, Halo. Blood Gulch map after we finish here!" Nyanza challenged. As he fired two ballistic blades, Theo blocking both, them lodging in his shield. Unfortunately the blades were tethered and Ny yanked back his arms and ripped the shield from Theo. Picking it up and throwing it away Nyanza laughed. "Oops, you're fucked now mate!" He laughed maniacally as he charged in, firing more ballistic blades.

Theo swung at Nyanza who angled a gauntlet to glance the blow away from him before leaping up, wrapping his arms around Theo's neck, using his momentum to slam Theo back into the ground, head first, his Aura at 28. Theo was dazed as he struggled to stand, only to feel a pistol against his temple and another against the back of his head "You're out Theo, kill blow." Nyanza whispered before drumming the barrels lightly on Theo's head.

Theo just grunted and staggered out of the arena. Ny turned to watch Pyro and Yang for a bit while he rested. Pyro and Yang were both striking and missing, both expertly dodging the other, they knew each other's skillsets off by heart and matches between them rarely had a clear winner.

Pyro stabbed at Yang with his right set of claws while blocking a strike from _Ember Celica_ with the other set. Yang tried a sweeping kick at Pyro, only for the latter to grab her leg and slam an elbow into her knee, following up with a slash across Yang's midriff which Yang dodged by jumping back slightly.

Nyanza launched several ballistic blades into Yang's back trying to be sneaky, the blades being absorbed by her Aura, 1 missed, passing through Yang's luscious golden mane of hair, taking a huge chunk of it out and pinning it to the far wall.

Pyro and Ny noticed this a moment before Yang, that moment was all they needed to retreat as far as they could from Yang and tap out before she went Nuclear, and Nuclear Yang did go, but she was immobilised by Goodwitch who had seen the results of Yang's hair related tantrums and was quick to intervene. "The match goes to Yang Xiao Long and Theo. Pyro and Nyanza, you are excused from class, call it a head start before I release miss Xiao Long, who undoubtedly will have words for you." She said sternly, yet also sympathetically. Quick as a flash, Nyanza and Pyro had disappeared, probably to pack and run off to Vacuo.

Yang's eyes were still red and her hair burning as Goodwitch let the brawler go, who bolted to follow Pyro and Nyanza, to 'Talk' to them as Goodwitch had put it.

"Umm Teal, you may not be getting your boyfriend back." Simon whispered to his teammate as SST sat to watch the rest of the day's matches.

**That Afternoon, Beacon Library. Simon's PoV:**

I looked across at Nyanza who was currently black and blue "So did Yang finally catch up with you?" I asked, as I photographed his injuries.

"Yeah, but the beating wasn't because of her hair actually, well not about ripping it out anyway." Nyanza responded, it was for the prank that SALT, PEPR and I played last night.

I raised an eyebrow "Oh, and what did you guys do?" I asked, wondering what had been done.

"Well you see, it totally wasn't my idea but someone snuck into RWBY's dorm while they were all out late and stole all of Yang's haircare products, and her bra's just for good measure, she didn't find them until after combat class, I'm sure you noticed the extra "bounce" she had during her fight. All 9 of us coped a few hits, totally worth it though."

I just facepalmed "You and your friends are such typical perverted teenage boys."

"Yeah we are, and you would be to if you didn't spend so long as a Schnee body guard with an Atlesian stick up your arse."

"I'll shove _Umbra Vigilans _up your arse you aren't careful! Just let's try to not piss off our friends unnecessarily." I admonished firmly, causing Nyanza to just nod.

Looking over to Sienna and Teal. "So I got to go see some 'old friends' on Friday night, we got some tasks that need taking care of, I promise I'll be careful but don't try to follow me when I leave." I whispered quietly, being mindful of RWBY and JNPR a few meters away, engrossed in games or books, or sleeping in Nora's case.

Teal looked at me worriedly, and Sienna just shrugged "Are you killing _Fists _or _Fangs_?" The latter asked, still agitated.

I raised an eyebrow at Sienna "If we find any, which we almost certainly will. But don't worry I won't be coming back in a stretcher this time." I assured the worried Teal.

"Good, make them suffer if you do find them!" Sienna growled lowly, obviously upset at what she'd found out about her sister and her 'home'.

I just nodded, not willing to start an argument over whether to draw out their deaths or do it with a quick decapitation as was my signature finisher. "So Sienna, what did you think of my new armour?" I asked, changing the subject quickly.

Sienna actually seemed to think about it. "Well it's certainly better to look at than the rags you used to wear. Also just because we're talking, don't think I'm not still pissed at you Simon. You still got a lot to answer for and what your old comrades are still doing." She added on, the venom dripping out of her voice.

'_Damn, so much for progress._' I though as I sighed and turned to watch RWBY where I just saw Ruby jump into Weiss' arms, Immediately I had my scroll up and snapped a couple of photos of them weeping together. _'Excellent, more ammo to use against her!'_ I though with a light chuckle as I turned back to my team. "Now as I was saying, if you're headed into Vale at all, move as a group and stay armed. We've got targets on our backs now, especially you Sienna. Levi seems to have taken a particular interest in you." I warned, I knew that Lachlan and Levi would be out for revenge and I did NOT want my team getting caught alone and/or unarmed in Vale by the enemies of the kingdom.

My team nodded when two people pushed past our table, I recognised the monkey Faunus and blue haired guy whose head I'd dumped food into as I'd escaped the food fight yesterday. I looked over to the RWBY table where Pyrrha and Jaune had congregated, I hadn't been listening to their conversation, too busy laying out the ground rules of my Team and going into Vale, especially at night.

The conversation itself was pretty boring except for an interjection about pancakes by the recently awoken Nora. Just as I was about to turn back to NST I saw the blue haired one, designation: _Neptune_ walk over flirtatiously to Weiss. _'Oh really mate? You think you can charm your way to her family's wealth? I've seen a hundred suave idiots try and fail before, I even got to rough a few up!'_ I thought.

"And I don't believe I've caught your name _Snow Angel_" He said, a suave tone in his voice

'_Really? Snow Angel? Jaune's tried that one… crashed and burnt more than Gregory flying!'_ I thought, getting ready to watch Weiss rip this Mistralan Casanova to shreds.

But instead Weiss just gave a small smile and her name, causing Jaune in the background to have his draw drop and mumble "Are you kidding me" as his arms just pointed incredulously at Neptune and _Snowflake_.

'_I hear ya Jaune… who is this asshole?'_ I thought, slipping naturally back into my role as a bodyguard, critiquing and profiling Neptune on his dress, attitude, body language. I was not impressed at all, but then again my job was to never be impressed at the suitors who chased after Weiss.

It was then that Blake jumped up and left, for seemingly no reason, she seemed annoyed and stressed at something, but what I did not know. I felt a tap on my shoulder "Oi, Remnant to Simon. You ok? You just totally zoned out." Nyanza said, concern in his voice.

"I'm fine, just had something on my mind, but I've handled it." I responded as we went about our post class activities and discussions about Ny's and I performance in combat class.

**That Night, RWBY Dorm. Blake's PoV:**

I had been in my dorm, going over every memory I had of my time in the _White Fang_ trying to find where Adam had lost his way, where we'd all lost our way. I normally tried to avoid thinking about it, to run from it. But I couldn't help but let it slip into my mind whenever I was alone and in I retreated into my thoughts. I was about to grab out Ninjas of Love, give me something to distract me while I did have the dorm to myself when I heard a knock on the door.

Walking over to it and opening it I saw Simon standing there, looking very solemn and somewhat mournful. "May I please come in Blake?" He asked, his voice and face suddenly becoming like stone.

I resisted the urge to just slam the door in his face, I didn't want a reminder of my father right now. But instead I just gestured for him to enter, which he did. Simon stood in the corner at attention like a soldier would, I noticed his black bandana tied around his arm like sports people or soldiers did when a member of their team had died.

I looked at Simon, he had a package in his hands. "Yes Simon? What's that you got there?" I asked, uneasy about Simon's demeanour.

"Miss Blake Belladonna, I'm here this evening on behalf of the _Keeper of Vale Intelligence_ to deliver to you news that an asset, whom you know as Tukson was killed by the _White Fang_ today while assisting _VI_ to bring down this terrorist organisation. During his final meeting with his handler, he gave this package to be delivered to you. The _Keeper_ and _VI_ extend their condolences to you for this loss of a close friend and assure you that those responsible will be brought to swift and merciless justice." Simon said, his voice even and unflinching as he delivered this news to me. He held out the package to me.

Taking it, I began to feel the tears drip down my face. Tukson was a very close family friend, he'd looked after me for years before Adam took me under his wing.

"Blake, I know how you feel. I've lost close friends and mentors, and I'm sure that in months and years to come I will continue to lose even more of those closest to me. Mourn them, remember them and continue their work. That's how my Captain Kruger wanted to be remembered, I imagine that this Tukson fellow will want the same, so dedicate yourself to being a huntress and taking down the _Fang_. You being a huntress will do more good for Faunus-Human relations than 1000 _White Fang_ members ever could. If you want to talk about it, or want to vent then you can normally still find me on the dorm rooftops of an evening." Simon said, empathy and sorrow replacing the mechanical way he delivered the news.

I just nodded, as I sat on my bed, looking at the package. "Thank-you for telling me Simon. And pass on my thanks to whoever your friend in _VI_ is for trying to help Tukson, I imagine he was helping them in return for getting out of the _Fang_ and out of Vale, I do want to believe they tried to keep their word."

"They did, had the _Fang_ not struck he'd be in Vacuo right now. Two _VI _agents died protecting him. So _VI_ did not just abandon him. Good night Blake, take care." Simon said as he about turned and left the RWBY dorm.

Looking down at the package I opened it and saw several books, books from my childhood that I'd loved to read as a young girl, they were idealistic and optimistic fairy tales that all kids loved, though the cynicism of growing up in the _Fang_ had led me to stop reading things such as these. There was also a letter. Opening it, I saw it was from Tukson.

_Blake,_

_If you're reading this then I'm in Vacuo or dead. Regardless of which one I want you to know that I always thought of you as my daughter and I'll be watching over you regardless of what happens. I hope these books remind you that there is still room in this world for optimism and idealism, for those qualities are what makes this Remnant worth living in._

_-Tukson._

I began sobbing upon reading his letter, he always had tried to see the absolute best in everyone and every situation, always coming out of it with a smile and a laugh. Eventually my mind turned to the _Fang_ once more, and how far they'd fallen to kill fellow Faunus and aid humans like Roman Torchwick as I heard my dorm door open and my teammates walk in and I stood to leave.

**Friday Night, Junior's Bar. Simon's PoV: **

I arrived early, about 7:30pm when the bar was nearly empty except for some early birds, I found Gregory in a booth at the side of the dancefloor, talking to none other than Kale and Shauno. I speed walked over to the three "You motherfuckers, and why was I not told you were out of hospital?!" I asked in fake anger, I was happy to see Kale out of hospital.

"Oh Simon, we decided to surprise you. You know, so we could see your reaction which was absolutely priceless just so you know." Kale responded with a smirk as he downed a drink, I recognised the smell of Ty's favourite brand of Atlesian whiskey.

"Here, I think we better have a toast for the old man, may he guard the bar of Valhalla forevermore." Shauno said, giving me a tumbler full of the strong liquid.

"To Ty" I said.

"To Ty" my three companions repeated before we all sculled down the drinks. I felt the warm course through me as the alcohol worked its way into me, I focused my aura to minimise the negative effects of alcohol.

"Ok, now that's out of the way. What's on the agenda tonight?" I asked as I sat down next to Kale, giving him a light punch on the shoulder.

"Well tonight we got a large group of deserters to move, 9 in total, we're having to speed up because last night, Levi and other _Fist_ troopers struck, killing 11 more deserters including 3 fellow orphans from other training groups, all hunter trained and Levi cut them down single-handedly. It seems he isn't toying around anymore, the ass kickings you and I have handed to him seems to have made him only sharpen his skills and begin taking this more seriously. Other Deserters have been moving without our help to Straltis, Mistral and Vacuo. There's maybe 300 left in Vale so now it's a race to see how many more we can save before Levi and Lachlan get to them." Gregory explained, his voice serious, eager to see this go off without a hitch to restore his confidence and reputation within _VI_.

"Ok, tell me the details." I asked, taking in the information, ignoring the pangs of sadness at learning Levi had snuffed out the lives of 3 fellow Orphans.

"There will be a three vehicle convoy, 2 SUV's and a large van. The Van will have a _Cipher_ on loan from another operation and his _Minder_ looking over the packages. 1 SUV will have a _Head Hunter_ team, _Charlie Team_ this time, _Alpha_ is away elsewhere. And the other SUV will have myself, _Minder-27_, Simon and _Fixer/Minder_ pair. The SUV's and van will be up armoured and have AT and AA Missile launchers stored within them, the _Fist_ and _Fang_ are becoming much more active so we need to be ready for what may come."

"And let me guess: Kale and Shauno providing overhead sniper fire?" I added, only to have all three shake their heads.

"No air cover tonight, besides Kale is still not ready for combat, won't be so for weeks." Gregory explained.

"Yeah, besides I got to hit the range more… went the other day, my shooting has suffered, my average bullseye rate on the 1000m range has dropped from 99% of shots in the bullseye area to 95%, totally unacceptable!" Kale commented as he downed another whiskey.

"So Simon, I heard your lady friend took you back to her place for two whole weeks. Please tell us you…" Shauno began to say before being cut off by a pretzel being shoved down his throat.

"Do not even finish that sentence Shauno. No, Velvet and I have not done anything like that. Why do people keep asking me this?" I said, wondering why my private life kept getting brought up, but then again it was Shauno, and well Shauno was an ass.

"Because we're eager to see our little man become a real man." Kale responded.

"So are you two married yet? Gay marriage is legal in Vale you know." I shot straight back.

"Ha Ha Ha, fuck you." Shauno said sarcastically.

"So when do we move out?" I asked, turning to Gregory.

Gregory looked at his watch. "We got to get moving in about 5 minutes. I just wanted to make sure you could see the snipers before we head once more into the fiery abyss."

I nodded and made myself ready to leave, I had the black poncho on over my armour so as to not to give my enemies a glimpse at my armour as well as the balaclava stuffed into my webbing, ready to go on when we rolled out.

I heard an explosion behind me and I drew _Umbra Vigilans_, Gregory had his _Death Adder_ up and the snipers had hefted sniper rifles up, all looking at the door as I saw Yang walk through, followed by Neptune. Yang looked like she was having fun and a joke, at least until she got two dozen pistols and rifles shoved in her face, she looked about ready to go nuclear.

"Oh fuck, it's her!" Shauno said as he and Kale took cover obviously not wanting to be beaten up by her again.

"Ok, I think it's time we left Simon. We don't want to get caught up in this bullshit." Gregory said as he walked out, towards Yang. We passed her and Neptune about half way to the door, she was dragging Junior with her.

Yang saw me "Simon, what are you doing here? You're not 18!" She said jokingly.

"Same reason you are: Information and some good old fashioned underage drinking, though I drink things a bit stronger than Strawberry Sunrises." I smirked in return as Gregory and I exited the bar quickly, but not before I signalled at Neptune that _I'm watching you!_ Using hand signals pointing from my eyes to him.

I saw a black SUV stop in front of the club, I put on my mask and entered the backseat, noting as I entered that indeed there was a sunroof and on top of the car attached to the roof were two tubes, 1 loaded with an Anti-Tank rocket, the other with an anti-aircraft missile.

"_Legate_, this is _Fixer-11_ and _Minder-3_. They're going to be helping us tonight." _Cipher-9_ explained as the SUV took off, several blocks later we fell in behind a black van which had an SUV identical to our own in front of it.

We travelled in silence for maybe a mile until we stopped outside a small motel, a rundown drive in type. Our cars skidded to a halt across several parking places, smashing into some other resident's car. The doors opened and out came fully a dozen black-clad and armed _Head Hunters_ and _VI_ agents. A door opened and out came the owner of the car that had been smashed

"Hey You Cu-!" He stopped as soon as he saw the soldiers bursting into several rooms and dragging men out, he scurried back into his room when _Minder-27_ aimed his SMG at him as a warning.

I saw Gregory coming out, being particularly rough with one deserter, hitting them in the back of the head with the barrel of a pistol. I immediately recognised him: the infamous _SIR_, our head instructor and executioner during our training with the _Black Fist_, responsible for two years of torture, indoctrination and general hell. I didn't hesitate, saying nothing and giving no warning I drew my MX-9 sidearm and fired one round, hitting the man right behind the eyes killing the man instantly, and I wasn't going to make the same mistake here that I made with Carvel.

Gregory dropped him then activated his flame gauntlets, incinerating the body then and there till it was unrecognisable. The other deserters looked terrified, I decided to tell a small lie to stop them trying to run away, forcing us to either sedate or shoot them. "He was a _Fist_ spy, we had Intel to kill him before he had a chance to compromise us all to Lachlan and his minions.

This seemed to satisfy our remaining 8 packages, I felt my adrenalin running and slightly proud and relieved that I'd finally done justice on behalf of all the orphans he killed or tortured, I had no regrets about killing him in cold blood. Some people just had to die, there was no other way to deal with such heinous crimes or people. Getting back into the SUV all of 90 seconds after we'd arrived we pulled out back onto the roads, headed for the freeway towards the port and the boat to take these guys to Vacuo.

"Hey _Legate_, just so you know. Sir was never getting on the boat to Freedom, I was actually going to incinerate him alive had you not shot him, you kinda did him a favour." _Cipher-9 _explained, a morbid sort of joy in his voice ad discussing the man's death.

"Yeah, but it felt good to just do it myself." I responded as I scanned out the back windscreen as we pulled onto the freeway, speeding along at 110Kph.

We had been on the highway maybe 3 minutes more when we felt the road shake.

"What the fuck was that?" _Minder-27_ asked from the driver's seat.

Looking back I saw Blake and the Monkey Faunus, Sun running across the rooftops of cars maybe 300m back being chased by an _Atlesian Paladin_. "Ummm guys, we got a fucking _Atlesian Paladin_ behind us knocking the shit out of the traffic! It's gaining fast, I got the AT launcher." I said as I climbed up into the sunroof and extracted the AT launcher from its holding place. Looking down the scope I couldn't get a good shot as there were so many cars flying around as well as Blake and Sun. Blake landed on the roof of my SUV, blocking my view.

"Hey Blake, nice outfit. Can't talk now: being a rocketeer. Please move!" I yelled in one breath.

Blake did a double take, and looked at me "Simon?!" was all she could manage before she leaped forward onto the Van's roof.

I quickly took aim at the _Paladin_ and took the shot. The 83mm HEAT rocket flew out of the tube and slammed into the _Paladin_, unfortunately the heavily armoured Mech came out of the explosion with nothing more than a large dent and some missing paint, no structural damage or disablement at all and it was only about 50m away by this time. "Well fuck!" Was all I could manage as I braced myself for impact as the mech barrelled through us, knocking all three vehicles in our convoy into the railings, luckily they held and none of us went over the side. Crawling out of the sunroof, I was rattled but unhurt. I saw Yang and Neptune speed past us on _Bumblebee_, Neptune shooting with his rifle as Yang drove.

"Everyone ok?" I asked as I drew _Umbra Vigilans_, just in case more _White Fang_ showed up. Slowly the other four occupants of our SUV which had ended up on its side extricated themselves. The other SUV and the van had both stayed upright and _Charlie Team_ had formed a perimeter around the van containing the deserters.

"_Watcher-3, Watcher-3_! This is _Cipher-9_, we need support, we've been attacked and immobilised. Send Bullheads for extraction ASAP!" _Cipher-9_ ordered as he drew his daggers and readied his flame gauntlets.

Several cars slowed down to see what was going on but warning shots from the _Head Hunter's _machine gunner quickly had them on their way as we formed a semi-circle around the van, using wrecked vehicles for cover where possible. Out of nowhere this young girl in brown jean, brown top and a white coat with pink lining walks up towards out group, all of us turn our guns or flame throwers towards her.

"Step back Ma'am!" One of the _Head Hunters_ ordered, pointing his rifle threateningly.

The girl just smiled, her eyes changing colour from white-brown to white-white.

I wasn't taking any chances, she had an aura of malice about her "Open fire!" I called as I let loose with flechettes from _Umbra Vigilans_. With that the dozen of us opened fire, showering the girl in bullets. About 10 seconds later, the fire ended. The girl unscathed, hiding behind an ornately patterned parasol.

"What, the, fuck!" one Charlie team member muttered as he quickly made to reload his rifle.

The girl smiled and leaped up, disappearing into her parasol. We all were blinded by the flash which accompanied her disappearance. Moments later we heard a scream and gasping for air. Looking up, my vision still fuzzy I saw _Minder-3_ with a stiletto blade through his chest, right through his heart.

The blade was ripped out and the agent fell dead. The _Head Hunters_ drew their machetes, ready for hand-to-hand combat. The small girl smiled and lunged at one of the soldiers, a machinegun slung across his back. The girl stabbed at the soldier who parried with his machete, simultaneously kicking out with his steel capped combat boots. The girl jumped the kick and smacked the soldier with her now folded parasol, her blade once again stabbing at the _Head Hunter_ as she landed, this time piercing him in the shoulder, wounding but not killing him.

Another _Head Hunter_ grabbed the girl by her hair and threw her back over mine and Gregory's heads, her landing on her feet about 5m from us, it had been a hell of a slinging throw by the towering soldier.

Gregory and I walked shoulder to shoulder towards the girl, our weapons ready and blades glistening in the moon and streetlight, Cars backed up and people filming the carnage when they weren't taking cover from bullets.

Gregory looked incensed, I soon found out why. "You bitch, are guilty of the murder of three members of _Vale Intelligence_, your sentence is death, your execution is now!" He bellowed as he took off in a sprint, leaping up and stabbing down at the multi-coloured girl who acrobatically cartwheeled backwards from a standing start as Gregory slammed into the ground, landing in a crater of his own formation.

I charged in and lanced my staff towards the girl who parried my strike with her parasol, smiling innocently and joyfully as she ducked under my next strike as I swung my rear blade in a sweeping motion at her midriff. The girl jumped and fly kicked me right in the chin, forcing me backwards. However that was actually my saving grace as Gregory began hosing her down with flames, hitting her square in the back, burning her slightly until she turned and deployed her parasol, which deflected the flames.

The girl, realising she was heavily out matched by pissed off soldiers, agents and huntsmen did a running dive off of the freeway. Gregory and I ran and dived after her. Below us we could see RWBY destroying the Mech and out of it coming Torchwick. As I fell I brought my staff to bear and fired flechettes at the bastard, screaming like and absolute madman as I fired and fell.

Weiss must have seen or heard me because several glyphs appeared for Gregory and me to run and leap off. Hitting the ground at a run, my flechettes expended I charged Roman and the mystery girl at the same time Yang did, however our strikes hit nothing but glass that shattered. Overhead I saw the girl and Roman aboard a bullhead, waving mockingly down at us, I set a new record for loading _Umbra Vigilans_ and fired the magazine dry at the aircraft as it sped away.

"Fuck you Roman! Fight me you dickhead!" I yelled, pounding my chest with my fists, taunting him to come back until they disappeared from view.

Turning around I saw team RWBY looking up at the sky.

"So I guess he got a new henchman" Yang growled, anger flowing freely in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans… Fall apart" Offered Weiss, a small giggle emanating from both her and Ruby.

"No, Just NO!" Yang said, I grunted in agreement as I reloaded _Umbra Vigilans_ and turned to face Gregory, who predictably had disappeared off into the night, probably to be picked up elsewhere by _Watcher-3's_ reinforcements.

"What, but you do it!" Weiss said indignantly.

"There's a time and a place for jokes!" Yang replied as she walked away.

"Was this not it?" Weiss queried.

"Nah _Snowflake_, that was just a shit joke!" I responded as I walked over to the girls, having no luck on spotting Gregory, even on thermals.

"Well at least I'm trying Simon! You always make fun of me for not making or enjoying jokes." Weiss whined as she followed Yang and Blake.

"Wait, where's Sun, Neptune and Simon's friend?" Ruby asked, skipping along behind our group.

"No idea about the first two, I got an idea of the last one but I can't say, because reasons." I answered, walking with my weapon at the ready.

"Simon, what are you involved with that has you carrying rocket launchers around? And wearing face masks?" Blake asked, looking back.

"Can't say Blake, besides you would NOT like the answer even if I could tell you." I responded, removing my thermal goggles and face mask now I was among friends.

I felt my scroll buzzing with a text, it was from Gregory.

_G: Got away before any awkward questions could be asked, Deserters are being extracted in a few minutes. Will see you tomorrow for next mission. We'll get that multi-coloured bitch next time._

I just shook my head, that girl looked no more than 14 or 15, the same age I'd been when I'd been fighting under Roman's command as a _Rum Runner_. _'Henchmen is what you might call her Yang. Multi-coloured bitch by you Gregory. But I see myself in her. Relishing my job, enjoying the kills. She may like Roman more than I ever did but that doesn't change the fact he exploited both for our skills. She, like me at that stage just didn't see it! Doesn't see that she too will be discarded by him when it suits him!'_ I thought angrily as I walked off with Team RWBY, my mind fixated on that girl, Neo. My replacement as Roman's enforcer.

**A/N:** Well hope you all enjoyed this more action filled chapter. I had a lot of fun writing more of Neo, expect to see more of the ice-cream lady in the future. Give me your thoughts, I always enjoy and reply to feedback.

Couple of new OC's found in this chapter:  
_Flicker McKraken _belongs to **t0xicd0g** (Appears in their story: _The Beauty of our Unforeseen Reunion_)**  
**_Edward Laura (MELT) _belongs to **Wa7chface** (Featured in their story: _The Evil of Men_)_  
Ocean Storm (ORCD)_ belongs to **Kymeara** (Is featured in their story: _Team ORCD: Volume 1_)


	54. He Who Became a Monster

**A/N:** Sorry for late update, my laptop decided it wanted to break and spend a week at the tech's being repaired, hence why my update is running so late… for once it WASN'T my own procrastination and easily distracted nature haha.

RWBY Volume 3, Episode 11: **WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK! **Like damn, the dismemberment and impaling and general darkness was so real and intense this episode, Roosterteeth have certainly sent RWBY to the Dark Side, and I'm loving it… well so long as I don't have a damned heart attack next week. On the Brightside though: we finally got to see Velvet kick some serious motherfucking ass with her _'Weapon'_. And now in less than an hour we have finale…. I'am SOOOOO not ready for this.

I've begun work on some of the scenes for my chapter covering the breach (which will be the longest chapter I've written so far and is where this story really begins to branch away from Canon and into my own plot). But there is still a ways to go till we get there. I'd like to thank **Wa7chface** for giving me some advice on some characters, especially _Levi _and how to hopefully improve them for the story. I'd also like to thank them for writing the 2nd fight scene of this chapter when I got massive writers block, you've been a great help mate. And everyone should really read his story: or parts of the next couple chapters may not make sense. –CC signing on.

**Chapter 53: He Who Became a Monster. Saturday Evening, S2 Week 1. Vale, Levi's PoV:**

I and a group of _Black Fist_ soldiers, some of the more experienced ones were laying low in a safe house after our assaults on deserters on Thursday night and the chaos of Friday night, we were preparing to intercept Gregory and Simon with their latest batch of deserters but before we could reach them, all hell had broken loose when some asshole in a _White Fang_ marked Paladin had begun causing all sorts of havoc along the Freeway, causing us to break off and lay low to report what we've found to Lachlan, he was not impressed to say the least.

I sat in the small master bedroom, cross legged and my weapons laid out in front of me. I sat meditating over the thoughts and memories I'd taken from me enemies through my semblance, I needed to meditate on and process the information I took in order to keep my head clear and my focus sharp in battle. Being distracted from a crowded mind in a firefight was a sure way to get killed. I reached out without opening my eyes and picked up one of my tomahawks, running my hands over it and feeling the caked on blood from Thursday night, the blood of traitors. I allowed the memories to wash over me as I relived that night and the swift and final justice that was delivered by my hand…

**Flashback, Levi's PoV:**

I ran across the rooftops near a group of clubs that catered to the students of the Royal Valean University, it was the weekly 'Student Night' so the area was packed with Human and Faunus co-mingling as they drank and partied, the sounds of the naïve merriment disgusted me. If I didn't already have an urgent mission I would have jumped down there and gunned as many as I could down, but luckily for them I had strict orders so I continued running, the students oblivious to the harbinger of death in their midst. I kept running and leaping across the rooftops for several blocks until I reached a modest, yet comfortable house. Inside I knew 5 people resided: Two former members of the elite Atlesian Rangers and three orphans, all deserters of the _Black Fist_ and all under sentence of death. Leaping down into the street I withdrew my tomahawks from their resting places at my hips and walked towards the front door, I saw it was an armoured door, probably heavily bolted shut.

I stopped walking as I watched a small _Black Fist_ drone kamikaze out of the air and slam into the front door, puncturing through the armoured door and taking half the front wall with it. I began sprinting through the rubble that had moments ago been the front of the house I saw no one in the lounge room that made up the front of the house. I heard further into the house doors opening and weapons being loaded. I saw an arm appear from a door way and out of it came a fragmentation grenade. I dove and rolled behind a section of collapsed wall which shielded me from the blast of the grenade I stood and saw the two former Rangers, assault rifles with bayonets affixed slowly advancing towards me. They saw me and opened fire. I began running towards them, firing as I ran and forcing them to take cover back through the doorway through which they came. I stormed forward, right through the doorway, not caring for any trap they may have set. I saw one in front of me in the home's kitchen and the other at my side, a perfect "L" ambush. The Rangers opened fire, catching me in a deadly crossfire but I kept moving forward towards the enemy in the kitchen, still firing my SMGs as I ran. The Ranger's weapon jammed and I took aim, throwing my right hand's tomahawk at him, catching the Ranger in the neck with the razor sharp edge of the tomahawk, blood spurted out of the wound coating the kitchen and myself in blood as I slid across the kitchen counter which he'd been hiding behind and grabbed my tomahawk out of the man's neck I landed behind the counter and shifted my momentum to my heels so that I spun 180 to face the door I came face to face with the other Ranger, his weapon aimed as he fired at me. The rounds hit me and knocked me off balance and I fell to the ground behind the counter.

"Ok, go kids! Get out of here!" I heard him yell as he lobbed two grenades into the room and turned and ran.

'_So these men were just a distraction. Too bad you will not succeed in outrunning me!'_ I thought as I focused my aura to protect me when the grenades went off, triggering a secondary explosion from the gas lines being severed and igniting. The heat was intense, but not intense as I remember Gregory's flame throwers being. I could feel my hair, skin and clothing being singed as parts of the fireball that engulfed the house. Once the explosion subsided I stood and shook myself down for a moment to limber up and get the debris off me to some extent before I took off running out the front of the house to see the group of four: 3 orphans and 1 ranger running down the street as their getaway car had been destroyed in the drone strike.

I took off running, focusing my aura to enhance my speed as much as I can to catch up to them, They were about to round the corner when out of the corner a hammer appeared and crushed the skull of the Ranger. As he fell down dead, out from around the corner stepped _Ghost_, he did not attack the orphans, but merely stood as a blocker to ensure the orphans didn't escape, I'd made it clear to the mercenary that these were my kills.

"So little kids, little kids. You thought you could just abandon your saviours and protectors without retribution? Tut tut tut, you did mess up badly but if you surrender now and put your weapons down now, I've been instructed to take you home to the _Black Fist_ base where you will be re-educated and sent back into the battle to save Remnant from the Faunus." I spoke to the orphans, 2 girls and a boy all three were 15 years old, having been in a training group that went through after mine, probably one of the last ones to be trained before Ironwood's forces took the camp.

"We'd rather die than go back to the people who hurt us for so long, only to send us to our deaths! The _Fist_ was never our protectors… it was our executioner! We will fight for our freedom!" The boy said as he withdrew his weapon. A dust imbued kukri in one hand and a small round shield in the other.

I smiled menacingly "Oh I like you, you got spirit. Too bad I need to kill you." I said as I reloaded then flourished my tomahawks, assuming a combat stance and waiting to see what the three orphans did.

The two girls drew their weapons: One girl drew a baton that with the flick of the wrist extended into a small pike, the tip sparking from electric dust. The 2nd girl drew something that I instantly recognised: Sarah's weapon, her Shillelagh/Assault Rifle. It looked as if it had seen better days but I immediately recognised it and to see it in the hands of a deserter made my inner monster come out in full fury.

"AHHHHHHH!" I screamed as I took off at a sprint at the girl with Sarah's weapon, every moment my departed love's weapon was held in the hands of a coward deserter was besmirching her memory and sacrifice. I leaped into the air, flinging myself towards the orphans swinging both my tomahawks down in a fit of rage, screaming at the top of my lungs as I did. All three orphans rolled away in separate directions to avoid my strike. A small crater formed around me in the road as I landed and stood to face the orphan with the kukri. I charged him full tilt and swung my left tomahawk at the boy's neck.

The orphan countered with his kukri, holding it so the head of my tomahawk got lodged in the small notch on the underside of the blade near the handle. The orphan made to strike at me with his shield but I kicked him in the side of the knee, knocking him down. Before I could strike at him again with to kill the traitor I felt a jot course up my back and immediately followed up by me going flying, my head having been struck by Sarah's weapon in its shillelagh form. I skidded along the road, keeping my footing and standing up straight I began firing at the orphans, focusing my fire on the girl with the electric spear. The girl twirled her spear in front of her almost quicker than the eye could see, trying to deflect the bullets I fired, she blocked some but others struck her, cutting her aura right down before she broke and tried to run past _Ghost_. _Ghost_ however just grabbed her by her ponytail and slung her by it right back into the melee. The girl with Sarah's weapon lunged at me, swinging for my head again, I deflected her strike to my side with a swipe of my left handed tomahawk. The girl over balanced and fell, obviously not used to the top heavy weapon she was using.

I turned on my heel and swung down at her heavily with my tomahawk, striking her several times in the back with both tomahawks before I turned to see both the other Orphans nearly upon m. I leaned back to avoid a chopping blow from the boy's Kukri and swung a tomahawk to block the girl's electro-spear, as her weapon was knocked away I raised my other tomahawk and fired, the point blank strikes overwhelming her aura and she eventually fell, her face unrecognisable from multiple point blank strikes from at least half a dozen bullets. The boy screamed in pained anger at seeing his comrade receive her well-deserved justice. He swung his shield into the sides of my ribcage, knocking me off balance before chopping at my neck with his kukri, I managed to block it no more than an inch from my jugular. I pushed back, our weapons screeching as metal grinded on metal. I began getting the upper hand and pushing him down, trying to knock him off balance. Until I felt something chomp into my leg, the 2nd girl had latched on and bitten me I looked down and saw her rip her head back, taking a piece of my leg with her. I immediately booted her in the skull and vaulted backwards to put some distance between me and my two remaining opponents.

I could hear _Ghost_ clapping in the background. I heard sirens, the VPD was on their way. "_Ghost_, go and meet our new guests, keep them busy till I signal you that I'm done here." I snarled as I fired at the pair of orphans.

The boy used his small round shield to protect him and his comrade, but his shield was only about the size of a human head and was not designed to defend against bullets and being held immobile by his desire to protect his friend has his aura overwhelmed by my hail of bullets. He too fell, dead by the time my tomahawks expended their current magazines. I ejected the magazines, the tubular mags falling out the handle end of each tomahawk. I took my time to reload, watching the girl struggle back to her feet, her aura nearly depleted from the vicious assault I'd subjected her too earlier in the combat. I heard several explosions emanating from a couple blocks away.

"So tell me. Where did you come across your weapon? Your blatant incompetence with it and the fact both your friends died protecting you because of your incompetence tells me it isn't yours." I said in faux understanding and empathy as I walked over, holstering my tomahawks and picking up Sarah's Shillelagh-rifle and bludgeoned the girl in the ribs, forcing her to collapse to the ground with the satisfying sound of several broken ribs.

"I-I'm not telling you anything! She sputtered defiantly, blood coming out of her mouth. The girl began to yelp and cough in pain, her lungs punctured from severely broken and shattered ribs.

I just nodded as I knelt beside her and put my hand to her forehead and funnelled my aura through my fingers, melding with and overwhelming her mind rendering her immobile and unable to resist my mental intrusions. I sifted through her various memories as I took them from her mind: Her parents and twin sister being killed in a _White Fang_ drive-by shooting, being kidnapped from an orphanage by the _Fist_ and trained. I saw her being bludgeoned by _Sir_ for insubordination and her making her first kill. I saw her desert and in her escape lose her weapon, only to literally stumble over Sarah's as she ran.

Having the information I wanted, I stood and hefted the shillelagh. "Well, this weapon belonged to a brave warrior named Sarah. She was my lover and a loyal member of the _Black Fist_. You even touching her weapon spits on her memory and her sacrifices, so now I atone for the insults you give her memory." I said before I began bludgeoning the girl's skull in with the shillelagh until there was nothing left intact and her brain and bits of skull were spread out all over the street. Satisfied that the girl was indeed dead I spat on her corpse and signalled to _Ghost _via my scroll to tell him to disengage as I too melted away into the night.

**Present Day, Levi's PoV: **

I opened my eyes, they immediately flicked to the corner where Sarah's weapon sat, untouched since I'd placed it there on Thursday night, I'd been debating whether to bury it so I could have some small funeral of sorts for my stolen love or to use it myself to cleanse this world of deserters and Faunus. I stood and went and picked it up, turning it in my hands so I could see every scratch and notch etched in through battle damage. I could almost feel Sarah's soul imbued in this weapon and then my mind was made up, I was keeping this weapon and I'd use it to club Simon and Gregory to death when I eventually got them defeated and disarmed.

I felt a small knock at my door moments before it opened, revealing _Ghost_. "You may want to see this. Innocent little lambs walking straight into the slaughter." He said with a heavily distorted voice, thanks to the helmet he wore.

I grabbed and holstered by tomahawks and hefted the shillelagh over my shoulder as I followed _Ghost_ into the common area of the safe house. Looking out the window I saw across the road was Simon's team, but Simon himself conspicuously absent. I turned to _Ghost_ "I guess it's time for payback and to send a message to Simon. The rest of you, get out of here and take our gear. This safe house is about to no longer be safe." I said sadistically as I turned towards the back door of the small safe house in order to get ahead of them while _Ghost_ waited to exit the front door and cut off their escape.

**Sienna's PoV:**

Teal, Ny and I were walking through a neighbourhood a few blocks from Ny's home, We'd gone to see a new movie today, it was utterly hilarious and the main character's constant breaking of the fourth wall and vulgar antics left us all in stitches. I turned to Ny to tease him about how I'd caught him and Teal making out during the trailers when I'd been getting snacks when I caught something out of the corner of my eye…

I was barely able to duck underneath the shillelagh before it impacted my Aura. I recovered from my crouched position my axe and shield in a guard position and recognized the Hunter in front of me. Simon had called him Levi, a fellow Black Fist orphan. My vision went red. I remembered Pearl, tortured by the Black Fist back home and my anger funnelled into my Aura.  
At that moment, I heard Ny and Teal shout behind me. Apparently the other Fist Hunter from their attack had joined in. Levelling my axe, I fired several shells towards Levi. Unfortunately his Aura absorbed the shot and he retaliated with a sustained burst from his club, now transformed into an assault rifle. His bullets were harmlessly deflected by my shield, the rounds were absorbed by the surrounding buildings.  
Taking the initiative, I charged Levi with my axe, swinging the weapon at his left shoulder. He blocked my strike with his staff/club, the sadist countered by pulling one of his tomahawks with his right hand and unloading a magazine into my exposed flank. Fortunately my Aura was able to stop the slow moving pistol rounds until I covered the area with my shield, but it still heavily damaged my aura.  
When I swung my axe at his midsection he flipped backwards to put distance between us. We squared off in the middle of the street, the sounds of Teal's whip cracking and unleashing waves of rocks or lightning and Nyanza's ballistic blades whistling through the air providing a backdrop to our duel. When Ny fired one of his pistols we both reengaged. Our weapons met with the sound of steel meeting steel. As I tried a strike at Levi's head he met it with a vertical block using his shillelagh. Using my axe as a hook, I lashed out with a kick to Levi's chest and as it made contact my axe ripped the staff from his hands.  
Before I could take advantage of Levi's disarmament he tackled me, using his superior weight and muscle mass to drive me to the ground. The Black Fist Hunter drew his tomahawks and fired a sustained burst towards my neck. I used my Semblance to throw him off, the bubble tossing the genocidal maniac several feet back. From my position in the ground I dropped the protective bubble and sent several waves of buckshot in his general direction, hoping to keep him suppressed for long enough for me to regain my footing.  
When I stood back up I saw Teal send a wave of lava in her opponent's direction. Before I could help her I felt several rounds try and embed themselves in my left side. Levi had closed the distance between is and was now close enough to attack which his staff. Due to the repeated gunshots my Aura was at less than ten percent. I could only guess at how Levi was and I knew for a fact that his ally was probably fine underneath his armour. Off in the distance I could hear police sirens, the civilians must have called the VPD.  
When Levi reached me I hit him with the face of my shield, knocking him off balance and allowing me to finally land a shotgun blast. He responded by kicking my axe out of my hand with one of his steel toed boots and forcing my poor shield to endure another burst from his rifle. Before I could return the favour a cry of pain from Nyanza stole my attention.  
The other Fist Hunter had managed to hit Ny with his Warhammer. My scrawny teammate was now embedded inside of a brick wall. Before Levi's ally hit Ny again Teal was able to wrap her whip around his weapon arm. He responded by simply pulling his arm toward his chest, causing Teal to stagger forward, and striking her with his shield, knocking her down and the _Ghost_ kicked her whip away and made to slam his hammer down and execute Teal.  
I suddenly felt my feet get kicked out from under me as Levi dumped me on the ground. The hunter brought his shillelagh down on my chest. I felt several of my ribs snap like twigs as my Aura was completely drained and didn't protect me at all. The pain was blinding. Like someone had lit my chest on fire. A sinister and victorious laugh accompanied the sight and sound of a tomahawk flashing towards my head, coming down to execute me, but the killing blow never came. Instead I felt like a white hot iron had been laid across my left dog ear.

Levi was laughing maniacally as darkness began to cloud my vision. I looked up to see Levi holding the severed ear, the blood from it dripping down onto my head. "I thank you for this lovely trophy, tell your bastard traitor of a teammate that next I'll be taking the right ear of that Faunus slut he supposedly _'Loves'_. He can't hide behind the _Cipher_ or his friends forever… I will destroy everything he holds dear until he comes to face me, and then I'll take his head." Levi sniggered as he booted me in the ribs again.  
Suddenly, several gunshots interrupted him. SWAT teams had responded to panicked calls from civilians. I heard a lot of yelling and automatic gunfire impacting on the shield that the _Ghost_ carried as he and Levi dropped several smoke grenades and made their escape to the rooftops.

"SIENNA!" I heard someone call, immediately I saw someone by my side, it was Simon, not a VPD-SWAT officer like I'd expected. But he was wearing a face mask, I recognised his voice and the poncho over his armour. "Medic! Alpha-3 get over here NOW!" He screamed, panic and anger evident in his voice as the darkness overwhelmed me and I faded into unconsciousness.

**Earlier, Valean Docks: Simon's PoV:**

"Go, Go, Go! Everybody out and up the gangway!" I heard Alpha-2 Roar at the 22 deserters we'd rescued tonight in a joint op with the VDF Special Operations Brigade. After seeing that the _White Fang_ had gotten some prototype Paladins we'd decided to move in force, we'd gotten 2 Warhead VTOL gunships to provide air cover and over 30 Royal Commandos as back up should things prove too much for two _Head Hunter_ squads and 20 _VI_ agents. I had _Umbra Vigilans_ at my hip in its machine gun mode, scanning the way we'd come with my thermal goggles in case there was a waiting ambush.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as Gregory stood beside me "Guess going in strength rather than in the shadows is the way to go with this from now on." He said as he raised his SMG, scanning the darkness as the ship's horn sounded and the deserters escaped to freedom.

"Maybe, but I think the _Fist _and _Fang_ would clue in pretty quickly. Besides I don't think the people would appreciate ground attack craft circling the city all night." I responded in a deadpan tone, I was ready to go and have some relaxing drinks with the snipers. Or maybe go sleep, I had to be well rested to see CFVY off on their mission tomorrow morning.

"I don't think people will notice too much right now, you know with the small fleet the Atlesians brought. Word coming through our intelligence channels is that the King himself is ordering 1st Mobile Regiment to take up Garrison inside the city for protection during the Vytal festival, so 6000 soldiers with about 600 armoured vehicles inside the city and another 18,000 at Armada and 6000 Marines on Patch. So there's going to be a lot of military overflights of the city, so we can get away with using more forces to keep the deserters alive" Gregory observed neutrally as he swept the area with his goggles.

"Yeah, too bad…. I enjoyed shooting that rocket launcher. Wish I'd thought to bring the SAM though, could have used it against that bastard Roman when he ran away from a fight." I responded as we made our way back to our armoured SUV with _Minder-27_, _Fixer-11_ and a new _Minder_ agent.

Gregory sat silent in the SUV, I knew mentioning the fight with Neo and Roman had struck a raw nerve, especially with _Fixer-11_ present, he'd lost his _Minder_ to Neo's piercing blade. So I just sat there quietly, looking out the window as the docks and city passed us by and each SUV took a different route to a safe house to be debriefed by _Watcher-3_ via the CCT network. We were nearing the assigned safe house when the police scanner installed into the SUV cackled to life.

"VPD-SWAT, Patrol units 22 and 27. We have a violent clash on Rainbow Road, South-east residential district. Two hunter-class fugitives: 1 armed with tomahawks and shillelagh and the other a shield and Warhammer and seems to be in some sort of modified EoD suit, Snipers are authorised to employ APRs. Approach with extreme caution. Dispatch out."

Gregory and I both had the same thought "_Minder-27_, get us there! Levi and Ghost have resurfaced." Gregory answered.

I felt uneasy "They said he had a Shillelagh, Sarah carried one of those. What the hell is he playing at?" I asked as the SUV suddenly increased in speed, completely ignoring the police car we sped past and was now pursuing us, it would break chase in a few moments once it ran our plates and it came up as _VI_, being above the law had advantages. I checked over _Umbra Vigilans_ as we drove, checking to ensure it was ready to do battle with Levi, the other agents checked their weapons and Gregory radioed the other cars to make their way to where Levi and _Ghost _had struck.

It took only a few minutes but we eventually reached the scene of the fight, the police car was still on our tail, lights flashing and sirens blaring. I sprung out of the sunroof instead of waiting for the agents either side of me to get out, my weapon in its gun mode and I fired at _Ghost_, my rounds impacting against his shield as I leaped off the car roof and advanced as I fired, _Ghost_ dropped several smoke grenades, probably to make his and Levi's escape. I charged through the clouds, wanting to see where they had run off to in order to pursue and capture. However upon getting to the other side of the smoke cloud I saw something that will haunt my nightmares forever: Ny embedded in a wall, Teal laying on the ground, twisted and unconscious. Looking further up I saw a massive pool of blood, laying in it was…

"SIENNA!" I yelled, my blood running cold as I ran to her side. I saw what Levi had done, he'd done what many _Fist_ soldiers had done, taken a Faunus' animal features as a trophy and as a message. Lachlan and I had done the exact same thing on a lot of missions. It made me sick to the stomach to see her it happen to my partner. "Medic! Alpha-3 get over here NOW!" I screamed, as I reached for my own medical kit to try and stop the profuse bleeding coming from Sienna's severed dog ear.

Within moments Staff Sergeant Peach was by my side and took over the care of Sienna. I stood up and stepped back, Sienna was now unconscious, just like the other members of my team. I saw several ambulances arrive, everything became a blur from that point, and I vaguely remember hopping into an ambulance with Sienna, willing her to be ok and to pull through. The shock of losing an animal feature is enough to kill some Faunus, let alone the massive blood loss she'd suffered.

**Royal Valean Hospital, Intensive Care Unit. Simon's PoV:**

I sat in a waiting room outside the ICU, all three of my teammates had been rushed away for scans and Sienna for surgery on her ear and ribs, one of her broken ribs was dangerously close to piercing her heart according to the latest status update from a nurse. I'd been here alone at first but Gregory, _Minder-27_ and Alpha team had all arrived, the agents disguised as police detectives and Alpha as SWAT officers assigned to guard my teammates, but in reality here to support their distressed comrade. I'd calmed down from the shock of seeing Sienna mutilated, the shock replaced but livid anger.

Looking up I saw Gregory in a police detective's uniform bringing me a cup of coffee. "You ok?" I asked as he handed me one of the cups.

"I'm pissed, I wasn't there for them and Levi and that damned _Ghost_ got the drop on them. When I find them I'm going to take my time killing _Ghost_, and I'm going to beat Levi to within an inch of his life. I won't kill him but fuck I'm going to make him hurt! Make him atone for hurting Sienna." I whispered angrily to ensure that none of the medical staff heard anything we said.

"I get that, I really do understand where you're coming from. Seeing her in there like that must be hard, but I'm certain she will pull through, but don't lose sight of our mission: We must save Levi, we need to lure him out, isolate him and capture him. Keeper has promised me the best psychological care in Vale for Levi." Gregory explained.

I just nodded and squeezed my coffee cup so hard it nearly shattered, at least until a nurse entered the waiting room "Mr Alexander, Senior Sergeant Smith. Miss Reynolds is out of surgery but still unconscious. However Mr Torres and Miss Wolfsbane are ready for visitors, I suggest you be quick their families will be here soon." The nurse said, signalling for us to follow her.

I stood and followed her, being taken into a room while Gregory waited outside. The room had two beds and a separating curtain which was currently open. In the beds I saw Teal and Ny chatting away at each other, both looking very worse for wear. Both were bruised and battered and had bandages covering stitches on their faces, heads and arms.

"Hey Mon Capitaine, we ran into an old friend of yours and had a really rowdy party. You shoulda been there." Ny said, I could hear the barbs in his otherwise jovial tone.

"Ignore him Simon, we don't blame you for this…. You have your duty to whomever you serve in the night. But I do need to ask, how is Sienna? The nurses won't tell us." Teal asked, concern for our teammate evident, but without malice towards me.

I shifted uncomfortably "She just got out of surgery, I don't know any more than that. But she's most of her left Dog ear, Levi… Levi took it as a trophy as the coppers or ambos couldn't find it at the scene." I said, my voice cold and a killing intent evident in it.

Teal's face fell and Ny looked visibly ill at Sienna being disfigured like this. I went to say something but the door to the room opened again and in stormed the Torres family, immediately swarming to their son.

I couldn't help but smile as Nyanza's mother hugged him tightly, despite Ny's objections and obvious embarrassment, I turned to leave as I felt uncomfortable being here despite being the reason for my team's hospitalisations. As I turned I saw three women enter, all wore black and all had whips at their hips. It was Teal's mother and older sisters. They walked with an aura of superiority and complete control about them, I could see where Teal got her attitude from. I quickly ducked out the door and walked back towards the waiting room, best to give them some time with their families though I didn't think Teal seemed too thrilled to have her mother or sisters there and I highly doubted that Sienna's 'Family' would show up at all.

"You probably should have stayed in there with them." Gregory stated from behind me.

"Maybe, but I'm just too tired and right royally pissed right now. Levi has certainly become more active and much more lethal as of late, we should be out there looking for him and bringing him down before anyone else gets killed." I said as I slumped into a chair in the waiting room.

"I've gotten onto the _Watchers_, they're scanning every security camera they can access to try and find him and we've had the VAF deploy recon drones to try and find him. But in a city of 10 million people, it's going to be difficult, not to mention that Levi is an expert on not being found if he doesn't want to be." Gregory replied in a whisper.

I growled and resisted the urge to punch a wall "I nearly had him incapacitated when the _Fist_ launched their attacks on Vale's Faunus neighbourhoods. I was so damned close to ending this." I said with a frustrated sigh.

"You should get some rest Simon, you'll probably be here for a while until they discharge Sienna, given you're her captain and partner and she has no family here so you're responsible for her. Don't worry, _Minder_ and I will be here, Alpha Team as well to protect them." Gregory said, trying to get off the subject before I start overanalysing my failure to capture and save my friend, which has now led to my team being hurt despite my best efforts to keep them out of danger.

I nodded "Yeah, probably should be well rested for when Sienna wakes up." I said as I leaned my staff against the chair I was in and relaxed back into it. I'd slept in more uncomfortable places so I quickly began to drift off.

**Classified Location. Keeper's PoV:**

I walked through the abandoned building, flanked by two hunter trained _Cipher_ agents. I was taking no chances with meeting this vigilante scumbag. Walking through the doors at the end of the hall I saw an old man flanked by two of his own bodyguards. The Grandmaster of the order of the Grey Mask sat at a small table with two cups of coffee.

"Ahh, the infamous Keeper. You finally decided to leave your island? Good, it shows you're sincere about this arrangement." The Grandmaster stated seriously, just a hint of condescendence in his tone.

"I'm here strictly out of necessity, I do not and never will approve of your vigilante organisation existing in the shadows, outside the control of either the council or myself. So do not for a moment think that my being here condones _Grey Mask_ operating in Vale." I said coldly, a scowl on my face as I took a seat. Not touching the coffee in case it was poisoned.

"There is no need for hostility between us Keeper, we both serve in the best interests of Vale just in different ways and methods. We eliminate rogue huntsmen and you keep the monsters of the night away from the citizens of Vale, even if you yourselves are the scariest of the monsters. Now onto business: You seem to be having problems with the _Black Fist_ and its hunter trained members during the last month. My sources tell me that only tonight two of them incapacitated three students of Beacon, I imagine Ozpin will be livid." Grandmaster said smugly.

I growled, despising how much the old man was enjoying spiting me and my agents. "Yes, there was an ambush tonight by two of their hunters. But they aren't the only ones operating in Vale, We've caught a few ourselves but when we catch one, two more seem to take their place. I'm willing to give your Grey Mask assassins temporary freedom to operate within the city to hunt down the _Black Fist_ hunters. But this freedom to operate is conditional: Your men will under no circumstances engage or interfere with my agents or their missions. Should one of my men be injured or killed by your assassins, I will not hesitate to burn your organisation to the ground and kill every one of your assassins. You know as well as I do that a war against _VI_ is not one you can ever hope to win and I would love for an excuse to take down your vigilante group." I said with venom dripping in my voice, making it clear to the Grandmaster that I was in charge of this arrangement and of this city.

The Grandmaster looked visibly agitated by my threats, but heeded the warning "I have not lived for so long as Grandmaster of this order by taking stupid risks or gambles for the sake of my pride. I will heed your warning and ensure my assassins do not interfere or attack your agents, but they will defend themselves if attacked." He said with just a hint of a threat.

I merely nodded as I stood "Good, I expect results quickly from you and your _Grey Masks_ and I expect any intelligence that is collected from those you kill to be forwarded to _VI_ immediately, or will I need to send _Ciphers_ to collect the information from the dead hands of your assassins?" I warned, my own smug smile on my face.

"I will see to it that anything we gather is passed along promptly. Good night Keeper I do believe our business is concluded." The Grandmaster farewelled coldly as we parted to opposite ends of the large room and exiting into different halls.

**Sunday Morning, Royal Valean Hospital. Simon's PoV:**

I woke up to see the waiting room bustling with people. I saw Teal, Ny and their families. Ozpin, RWBY and two members of Team MELT: Edward Laura and Solum Latro had also arrived while I'd been asleep while Gregory and _Minder-27_ seem to have made themselves scarce.

"Well look who finally decided to awaken!" Nyanza said, leaning on a set of crutches as was Teal.

"Yeah, it's been a very rough couple of nights for me and I was damned exhausted." I responded as I stretched out in the chair and stood up, my bones and joints creaking as I picked up and holstered _Umbra Vigilans_. "Has Sienna woken up yet?" I asked as I adjusted my gauntlets so they were comfortable.

"Not yet, but the doctors said within the hour and that was 45 minutes ago." Teal responded.

I nodded, shame and anger swelling up within my chest but I stood tall and strong as the rock I'd always been, I wasn't going to crack in front of so many people.

"Mr Alexander, May I please speak with you for a moment." Ozpin said as he walked out of the waiting room, tapping his cane as he went. I followed him out and to a small empty office.

"Yes Professor?" I asked, standing at ease.

"You know I take assaults on my students extremely seriously, I also know you have extensive history with Levi and you actively try to avoid killing him. I need to know that if it came down to a choice: could you kill him in order to defend Vale or your team?" Ozpin questioned most seriously.

My eyes dropped to the floor, deep in thought. "I honestly could not give you an answer professor. I will do my duty to defend Vale and its citizens to the utmost of my abilities, I would kill him only if there was absolutely no other alternative and not just in cold blood, he deserves a second chance." I answered, not daring meet Ozpin's eyes and reveal the truth that I didn't have it in me to kill a fellow Orphan of the _Fist_.

"Hmm, remember that as a Huntsmen you must put the needs and safety of Vale above your own wants and preferences. You need to prepare yourself mentally for the possibility that you may need to kill your friend in order to protect Vale and the lives of innocents or that someone else may kill him. Try as you might you'll never be able to save everyone you want to." Ozpin said sorrowfully, seemingly speaking to himself as much as me in the last sentence.

I just nodded "Yes professor." I responded as I leaned against a wall.

"I also suggest you see Miss Reynolds when she wakes up and then get back to Beacon, I imagine you could not want to miss seeing Miss Scarlatina off on her Team's mission." Ozpin said with a sympathetic smile before leaving the room.

I heard a set of footsteps enter as Ozpin left. Looking up I saw Edward Laura standing before me, looking thoroughly serious. I immediately took a guarded stance, I had no particular liking towards this man since an incident in week one when he and a friend had jumped me in the locker rooms after my match against Nora and Ren. "What do you want?" I snarled.

"Just to give you a warning from my employers. The Keeper has given the _Grey Masks_ permission to operate within Vale's city limits to take on _Black Fist_ hunters, your friend Levi is on the top of the kill list after what he did to your team last night." He said, almost enjoying the fact that Levi was now the target of a group of vigilante assassins.

Within half a second I'd lunged forward and pinned Edward to the wall, the blade on my right gauntlet extended and at his throat. "You or any of your bastard assassin friends lay a finger on Levi and I'll take you apart Edward, piece by piece and I'll take my time with it. I will take Levi down myself in a non-lethal way and get him the help he needs." I responded before slamming my left fist into his jaw, leaving Edward with a blooded face. I turned away and walked out the door, retracting my gauntlet blade as I went out the door.

Returning to the waiting room I saw a nurse enter just before me "Sienna is awake now and ready for visitors, though I advise against crowding her so just her teammates and Professor Ozpin first." The nurse asked, as myself and Teal and Ny followed her to a room in the ICU.

We saw Sienna laying there with several tubes and line leading into her and several machines around her keeping tabs on her vital signs. Her entire left Faunus ear had now been removed. It made me feel sick to look at.

Ny was the first to speak, as usual. "So Sienna, are they going to put you into one of those cones so you don't scratch at the stitches?" He asked, trying to lighten the sombre mood in the room.

Teal looked about ready to slap Ny, I facepalmed but Sienna just giggled. "Nice one Ny, I'll let you get away with that horribly racist joke, I needed to hear something humorous after last night and being out of it for so long. Man I really feel like shit." Sienna complained as she gently moved her hand to feel her head, now devoid of one of her ears, I could see the tears in her eyes at feeling her disfigurement. Teal moved in to hug Sienna and comfort her. I just stood frozen to the spot, I'd never really seen a close friend hospitalised like this before I had no idea how to act or react.

Sienna looked to me, she saw the shame and regret in my eyes but she said nothing. I think neither of us really knew what to say to the other at this point so I just stood back in the corner and watched on as my three teammates spoke and reassured the other two of their health and wellbeing. I certainly felt like an outsider at this point. Teal turned to me "You know you are allowed to come stand with us, you don't need to skulk in the corner."

I just rolled my eyes and walked over between Ny and Teal. Ny turned to me "So when are we going after those assholes Mon Capitaine?" He asked, his voice full of conviction. Teal and Sienna nodded in agreement.

I shook my head "_We_ are not going after them. _I_ will be, I got some friends looking for them as we speak. But I'm trying to keep you out of this if I can, I'm not letting you guys get hurt again, not because of me or my past."

"Simon, we're a team. We're in this all together." Teal said defiantly.

"She's right Simon, if you're going after the _Fist_ we want to be part of it." Nyanza said.

"We'll have this discussion later, not her and not now." I said firmly, ending the conversation moments before another person entered, it was Solum Latro from MELT. He came to Sienna's side and immediately kissed her on the lips.

I raised an eyebrow and awaited an explanation before I threw Solum out of a Window.

Sienna noticed my confused look when she and Solum finished making out. "We've been seeing each other for just over a month. You really do NOT pay much attention to your teammates do you?" She asked accusingly.

I shrugged "So long as it doesn't impact on your studies or combat ability, then what you do with your private lives is not really much of my concern. Though I will just say congratulations to you both and Solum: Just know that I possess a skillset designed to inflict great pain upon people, hurt Sienna and you'll experience it firsthand." I said in an all too happy tone.

Solum just stared blankly at me, not sure if he should immediately run. But Sienna just ignored my threats. I looked at my scroll to get the time "Any idea on when you all get discharged?" I asked.

"Teal and I already have been, we just been waiting around for Sienna to wake up. Sienna will be transferred to Beacon's infirmary this afternoon if I heard Ozpin correctly." Nyanza said.

I nodded "That's good, hopefully Sienna won't miss too many classes. I-I need to go, I'll see you in the infirmary tonight Sienna, I promise." I said in a rush as I escaped that room.

I honestly felt like throwing up at this point and I could see right through Sienna's smile and see the torment and shame she was feeling at being disfigured and being made less of a Faunus through the loss of one of her animalistic features. It was a powerful symbol to sever a Faunus' animal features, it separated them from their heritage and identity and I saw Sienna on the brink of tears before she choked them back. I strode past the waiting room, not daring to look inside as I exited the hospital and made my way to a landing pad to catch a bullhead back to Beacon.

**1 hour later. Beacon Landing Pads. Simon's PoV:**

I the ride back had been solitary and I'd been thinking of how much worse last night could have been: If we'd just been a bit slower, we could have been burying Nyanza and Teal and maybe Sienna as well. That line of thinking had shaken me heavily: just how close it had been to me painting N.T. and T.W. on my right shoulder plate. I jumped off the Bullhead to see CFVY on the pad awaiting their Bullhead to go on their own mission.

"Simon!" Velvet said running over and grabbing me into a hug. I settled my head into her shoulder and wrapped my arms tightly around her waist.

"Hey Velvy." I said, relief flooding my voice as I embraced my girlfriend.

"What happened to you? You look horrid?" Velvet said as we parted from the embrace.

"I spent most of last night at the Royal Valean Hospital. And before you ask, I'm perfectly fine. It's the rest of SNST that was admitted, they got ambushed by the _Black Fist_." I answered, not wanting Velvet to flip out that I'd gone and gotten hurt again.

Velvet looked visibly worried "Is Sienna ok? I've heard horrible rumours of what they do to Faunus they defeat." Velvet said, wanting to know that her fellow Faunus is ok.

I sighed and looked away "They severed one of her Dog ears, she'll be back at Beacon tonight though. She's going to be ok." I replied, knowing I was lying…. Sienna would never be entirely ok without her ear.

Velvet nodded, deciding now wasn't the time to push the subject. "You're lucky our Bullhead got delayed, I was worried you wouldn't make it to say farewell." Velvet said, changing the subject.

"I wouldn't let anything stop me from spending time with you. The thought of you headed out into the wilderness with but your team has had me on edge since I heard about it. Guess now I know how you feel whenever I'm in harm's way and you aren't there to protect me." I said, the stress in my voice becoming more evident as my hands began to shake slightly.

Velvet noticed and took my hands in hers "Simon, I've accepted that we're both going to face dangers as Hunters, I accepted this after what happened to you in the _Forever Fall_. You need to stop trying to have the weight of the world on your shoulders and always try to protect everyone around you. I know you're worried about me going out into the field and I understand that. But trust in my abilities to keep safe, I'll back here with you in no time, I promise you that." Velvet said as she leaned in and kissed me, I returned the kiss passionately and I clung to her for every moment I could until the sound of a Bullhead landing separated us.

"Come on Velvet, we got to go!" I heard Coco call.

"Coming!" Velvet called as she took out her camera from her box. "Mind if i?" She asked.

I nodded and took out my gun staff and extended it into its bladed mode for Velvet to take a photo. When She put her camera she hugged me once more, whispering "I love you" in my ear then running onto the bullhead to be despatched on their Team Mission. I stood there watching the bullhead disappear into the clouds headed east into the front lines of the battle against the Grimm.

**A/N: **Only one new OC appeared in this chapter: _Solum Latro _created by **Wa7chface** for their story **The Evil of Men**.

In case anyone is wondering: Nope I'am not at all sorry for the darkness and graphic violence in this chapter or any chapter to come. And only a couple more chapters until we hit the Breach…. And oh my I'm having fun writing that one up so far, be prepared for anything is all I'm going to say about this.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. Don't forget to **Follow &amp; Favourite** as well. Enjoy the finale in just over half an hour! –CC Signing off.


	55. The Feelings of the One Left Behind

**A/N: **I'd like to apologise for taking nearly 2 months to do this chapter, but I'm in my senior year of university and it hit like an absolute freight train and I also had some serious writers block. I hope this chapter is worth the wait I've subjected you all to, though it is admittedly a slow, more lore based rather than action based chapter that I've ended up cutting in half just to get something out. The next couple of chapters should hopefully come out more quickly because I got plenty of content drafted up.

The Finale was amazing in almost every way, it was a shot straight to the heart of a lot of fans though. It also disproved every theory I had for how RWBY was going to go, the same theories I built the plot for FHTH upon and now I don't know what to do. But I thoroughly look forward to seeing what Season 2, Volume 4 has to offer us now that everything in Vale has gone to shit and each member of RWBY embarks upon their own separate journey…. Just please Miles and Kerry: do NOT make JaunexRuby a thing, just give us lots of RenxNora in the next Volume.

I also apologise for the errors in the last chapter: I was in full hype mode for the finale when I published and did a terrible job (more terrible than usual anyway) at editing. Now time to move onto the next chapter of _From Hunted to Hunter_ –CC signing on.

**Chapter 54: The feelings of the One Left Behind, S2 Week 1. Beacon infirmary, Simon's PoV:**

I strode into the infirmary, Ny and Teal had arrived back from the hospital with Sienna this afternoon. Though they were allowed to come back to the dorm while Sienna was confined to the infirmary. The pair had wanted to come with me, but I felt this conversation was one just for Sienna and I even if it devolved into Sienna berating me again and being otherwise irrationally angry at me.

The nurse saw me and immediately just pointed to the room closest to the nurse's station. I nodded and walked in, my body ridged and my steps falling heavy in my combat boots echoing throughout the ward. I entered the room and saw Sienna sobbing silently into her hands, looking so vulnerable and defenceless, it was the polar opposite of the confident, stubborn and in-control young woman I'd first met over 4 months ago. I just stood silently, in complete shock at seeing Sienna actually cry.

She looked up, her cheeks puffy and eyes red and swollen and her voice cracked and sob ridden. "Simon, please just go away I don't want any visitors." She said meekly, the ever slightest amount of anger in her broken voice before she sobbed again.

I ignored Sienna's demand for me to leave and instead pulled a chair up next to her, just out of her reach of course. I sighed, not knowing what to say but deciding to wing it. "Teal and Ny may not understand the significance of what you've been through in the last day Sienna. But I do: I know that in the old times, when humans had all but enslaved the Faunus that removing a Faunus' animal features was a way to signify subjugation and ownership. We were taught this in the _Fist_, and we regularly made use of it, I regularly made use of that tactic of terror and looking back it is probably the most horrific crime I've committed. The man who taught us this act of brutality however is dead, I found and killed him on Friday night if that's some small consolation at all." I said absentmindedly, knowing that truth probably wouldn't help Sienna much.

Sienna just rolled and faced away from me, seemingly ignoring me. But I pushed on, knowing if I didn't say something now then I'd never be able to bring SNST back together as a team and next time it could cost lives. "I can see the defeat in your eyes Sienna, but Levi has not subjugated you, he certainly does not own you like a head of cattle. You are still the same independent, free spirited girl I met in the Emerald forest. Take it from me: Wear your scars and disfigurements as Battle Honours, never be ashamed of them or you'll never be able to step back into the fight again, and we both know you'll need to get back into the fight and sooner than either of us would like: The _Black Fist_ will keep coming and keep killing Faunus without mercy or discrimination for the _Fang_ or civilians: We might be only in training but I'm sure we both know we're a part of this war as much as any fully trained hunter, soldier or _Cipher_. I thought I could keep you and Teal and Ny out of it but it's obvious to me now that there's no staying out of this so we need to fight this, as a team." I said, resigned reluctance in my tone as I knew I'd failed at keeping my team safe from the demons in my closet.

"Simon, how can I ever be accepted by the Faunus community again? Even today it is taboo for a human removing a Faunus' animal features, even for lifesaving medical reasons and there is a huge stigma attached to losing one's Faunus' traits in ways like I did, having them forcibly taken by a human. You think you understand, but you really don't. You're just as ignorant as any human when it comes to the subtleties of Faunus culture except on how to use it against us as a weapon of war, dividing the Faunus then conquering them." Sienna said irately, still faced away from me.

I immediately shut up and listened to her, stung by her words. I clenched my fists until my knuckles were white as I continued to listen to my partner, who'd now rolled over to face me. "You think you're this big protector and redeemed hero? You think you can solve all the problems in this world from the shadows down the barrel of a gun on your own. But you're wrong: You're no hero, you still fight in the shadows. Huntsmen and Huntresses aren't meant to operate from the shadows, it undermines the entire meaning of what we're supposed to be, being shining beacons of freedom. Someone with your history should never be a huntsman, no Faunus who didn't already know you like Velvet did could ever trust you, and if you and Velvet weren't close childhood friends do you think she'd even speak to you knowing your history?" Sienna admonished, though telling a very harsh truth.

I stuttered, completely wordless at Sienna's sudden sharpness. But I managed to compose myself quickly. "Sienna you're right. No Faunus should rightfully trust me or give me the benefit of the doubt. But you have known me for months, surely you must see that this folly has gone on enough and is threatening to tear down all the progress we and Teal and Ny have made as a team, it could be Sunset on SNST. I'am not the _thing_ that committed those war crimes. Ozpin gave me a 2nd chance to come out of the shadows and be a huntsman. I choose to remain in the shadows even now because people like you can't look past the things I was forced to do and see all I'm doing to right what I've wronged." I responded sharply, I knew I was essentially repeating earlier statements but Sienna was exceedingly stubborn, even more so than I.

Sienna eyed me off, obviously annoyed I was pushing this again but unfortunately for her I was as persistent as I was stubborn. "You realise I'm going to kill your friend Levi if I ever see him again, and I expect you to help." She snarled lowly, clenching her fists.

I had expected this, and already had a counter ready. "No, I won't let you kill a person in cold blood, that makes you no better than the _Fist_ or the _Fang_… or me. He will be captured and he will be institutionalised, he is not culpable on grounds of insanity. And the last thing you want on your conscience is the pleading looks and grovelling for mercy of a helpless captive before you hack them to death. You aren't the type of person that can easily live with such a memory, it would come to destroy you eventually." I responded softly, not raising my voice or getting irate.

Sienna stared me right in the eyes for several seconds, neither of us blinking. "Why do you care so much about me? You're just one more racist human whose hurt more Faunus than you can count."

I shook my head. "That's you're problem Sienna, you no longer see me as I' am and for the things I've done at Beacon. No you just see one more member or former member of the _Black Fist_ who is nothing but their worst mistakes..."

"And a member of the SDC, you worked for those bastard Schnees." Sienna added, disgust once more in her tone.

"As a bodyguard, a purely defensive role. So don't go blaming their more underhanded actions on me!" I said, as a partial lie given that I had had a hand in procuring slave labour for them in the _Fist_. Sienna growled, my patience was beginning to wear thing with her hard-headedness. "Sienna, you sound like a broken record so please stop. I get it you hate me and everything I've done in order to simply survive. But know this: I'm still your partner and your captain. So please come to me if you need anything because even if you hate me, I do still consider you a friend despite the events of the last month. So you rest up, we still have our Team mission to prepare for in two weeks, so we will need to get you through intense physio and training to get you and the rest of SNST ready for whatever Ozpin throws our way." I said as I stood up, retreating from this argument before it got too heated, last thing I wanted to do was cause my partner more stress.

"One thing before you go, a question?" Sienna said hurriedly.

I turned back to face my partner, listening intently.

"Did it, what you did in the _Fist_, or what the _Fang_ did to you. Did it ever break you? Make you want to give into oblivion?" Sienna asked absentmindedly, the fight and energy and stubbornness leaving her instantaneously. It was honestly slightly off putting, and that's before I even addressed the question.

I stuttered, unsure of how to answer. "Sienna, I'm not sure what you're wanting to find out from this. But no, I never stopped fighting nor did I ever give in. Yes I had my moments of brokenness during deeply emotional times when I was on my own, but I always grew and learnt from those moments. Because to give into oblivion only meant that the _Fang_ had won, I wasn't going to let them win. Just as you won't let Levi win over you." I said reassuringly as I exited the room.

Upon exiting I saw Solum enter the infirmary, a bunch of flowers in hand. I stood up straight and tried to make myself as intimidating as possible as I walked up to the team MELT member. "Oh Simon, Ozpin thought you'd be here so he sent a message with me: He wants you to go see him in his office ASAP" The Faunus gunslinger said, stopping in front of me.

I internally groaned, meetings with Ozpin in his office means I'm about to get berated for something and I could almost guess what it would be tonight. "Thanks for the message." I turned and pointed to Sienna's room "Take care of her, she's very sensitive and vulnerable emotionally at the moment so she'll need someone she can talk to bluntly and honestly, and unfortunately that person is not me right now." I said, my cobalt eyes looking not at Solum but blankly past him off into the distance as I sidestepped past the Faunus and out of the infirmary, my worry for my partner growing by the moment. Her physical injuries will heal quickly enough but it would be her emotional stability and confidence that would suffer most.

I walked quickly through the halls and into the elevator up to Ozpin's office, steeling myself for whatever conversation was about to happen. The door opened and in the office sat Ozpin behind his desk, as always sipping on his cup of coffee. "You wished to see me Headmaster?" I said firmly, announcing my presence.

"Ah, Mr Alexander. Glad you could come see me. I trust your partner is recovering well?" He asked, his eyes piercing my very soul.

"She is recovering very well physically Professor, but I imagine you already knew this so can we please dispense with pleasantries?" I said, walking closer towards his desk not allowing myself to show my nervousness.

Ozpin smirked and gave a light chuckle "You sound very much like _Keeper_ or one of his Agents, you even carry yourself like one." Motioning to my guarded stance and ridged step.

I just raised an eyebrow at the grey haired enigma and waited for him to continue, standing at ease.

Ozpin just activated a screen on his desk and brought up a video on the dustnet. Looking at it I recognised the events of Friday night on the freeway. I saw myself in my armour, poncho and facemask engaged in combat against Neo with Gregory and Charlie Team.

"Despite Keeper's best efforts, the scroll filmed footage from the witnesses has gotten onto the dustnet and is going viral. It isn't often that _VI_ is seen operating in plain view like this so it is captured the public's imagination. You and _Cipher-9_ most of all though of course the public doesn't know your identities… for now at least, you're easily recognisable by fellow students so be ready for that." Ozpin said bluntly as the clip kept playing.

I shrugged "Weird looks and hushed conversations about me is nothing at all new, maybe if anything it'll give people more reason to fear and respect me if they knew I worked with the _Head Hunters_ and _VI_." I offered nonchalantly.

Ozpin did not look amused "Quite so. But the reason I've called you up here is because of your actions prior to this video being taken. I've seen the after action reports filed by the _Head Hunters_, you killed a person in cold blood without any hesitation or remorse or even an explanation though I imagine _Cipher-9_ would know the reason but given I don't have access to his account of events. So I'd like to know what that man did to earn such a fate?" Ozpin asked, from what I could tell he genuinely didn't know the answer to this question.

"I never knew him by any other name except _"Sir"_ he was my lead instructor when I was indoctrinated into the _Fist_, a man of pure evil and psychopathic and sadistic to boot. No way was I letting him live or letting anyone take away my opportunity to have at the man who created the monster I once was." I replied in a monotone voice.

Ozpin just shook his head "You're a Huntsmen-in-training Simon, you can't simply kill in cold blood and I'd prefer it if you avoided killing if at all possible, hunters must be respected, not feared as Intelligence or Vale's spec ops soldiers are." Ozpin admonished me, sounding almost angry.

I eyed him off, not flinching "Professor, I'm not a huntsman, at least not yet. Besides I know many huntsmen find careers within _VI_. This is because they know that there are some people simply need to die, there's no other way for them to atone for what they've done and _'SIR'_ is one such person. Some people, maybe yourself included may think this is immoral but it would be truly immoral for men like him to get away like Carvel did, call it me learning from my mistakes." I responded, my tone getting slightly snide at the end, reminding Ozpin of him berating me for my assistance in letting the _Black Fist_ Brigadier escape.

Ozpin merely looked at me, this man had the best poker face in the world. "I see you being quite hypocritical here Simon. Many would think the same thing about Levi, yet you'll kill to keep him from that fate." Ozpin lectured.

"Those people do not know Levi like I do, they don't know the _Fist_ like I do. I'm qualified to make the decision about whether or not he or Sir or Carvel deserved to die, other people including you are not. I'm not a hypocrite, I just have a deep knowledge and understanding of the _Fist_, its members and former members." I replied calmly, despite the agitation brewing inside.

Ozpin did not look impressed that I'd turned the conversation around on him, I guess he wasn't used to that. "Be that as it may, I still can't condone cold-blooded killings and it worries me how casually you approach killing, does it not bother or disturb you at all?" Ozpin quizzed.

I shook my head "Should it disturb me? It may have when I was 12 and had just taken my first life, but now it's just a natural consequence of combat, I lose no sleep over it nor do I regret the majority of the lives I've taken because almost all of them had it coming. Now is there anything else headmaster?" I responded, impatient to leave the office.

"That will be all Mr Alexander, just take to heart what I said. Remember you are eventually to be a huntsman and while you'll have freedom to pick your job, do not limit your choices by continuing to be merciless and cold for it could have unforeseen consequences outside of your work and studies." Ozpin said cryptically, dismissing me. I stood and turned on my heel, walking out in a quick march.

As I walked back through the dorms I got to the JNPR and RWBY dorms and Weiss and Blake walking back towards their dorm from the other direction. Blake looking pretty ragged.

"Ladies." I greeted as I sped my pace up noticeably.

"You just wait a minute there Simon." I heard Weiss command. On instinct I stopped, a remnant of my time doing nothing but listening to Weiss' commands, but I didn't turn around, wishing I had my smoke grenades here to make a getaway with.

"Blake and I had an interesting conversation on Friday night. Mind stepping into our dorm so we can talk." Weiss said calmly, but with a commanding edge I hadn't heard in her voice for many months.

"Yes _Snowflake_." I said as I turned and entered the RWBY dorm. _'Man, I'm fucking popular today'_ I thought as I leaned against a wall.

"Ok Simon, exactly what were you doing on Friday? Who was the man you jumped off of a bridge with? Which may I add was an absolutely stupid thing to do? And why did you have a rocket launcher?" Weiss demanded as soon as the door closed, leaving the three of us alone in the dorm.

"The man I was with, an old friend. Another former _Black Fist_ member just trying to right the wrongs he's committed. What I was doing? Transporting people marked for death by both _Fist_ &amp; _Fang_ to safety outside of Vale. I had a rocket launcher… because who doesn't love shooting several pounds of high explosive at Roman's ugly head." I replied, chuckling at my own joke.

Blake and Weiss just looked at me, then at each other and then at me again. "Ok, that actually makes sense, especially given your history with Roman. But where did your friend go? He just disappeared." Blake commented.

"When one has a semblance like him, it is very easy to make one's self scarce in a hurry. As for the details, that's for him, me to know and no one else, it's a secret, just like his identity." I explained, happy to talk semi-openly with the Monochrome pair of RWBY.

Blake raised an eyebrow and Weiss looked unimpressed. "Thought you were past keeping secrets?" Weiss admonished.

I just chuckled "Not my secret to tell though, their secret that I'm just privy too… completely different situation, I'm sure you understand."

The girls just nodded, both understanding the need to keep other people's secrets, especially Blake.

Beside us the door opened and Yang walked in with her scroll open. "Hey gir-" Yang stopped when she saw me. "Well look who it is, I just got sent a very interesting video on my scroll. It features you." She said as she sent it to Blake and Weiss.

"Ugh, Yang please… don't spread that around, most of Vale may not know that's me, but Beacon students certainly will." I said, facepalming.

"Why, don't want people knowing you're a super-secret agent by night? I'm sure the ladies would love it" Yang teased with a wink.

I just groaned "Please Yang, stop. I'm taken so what the ladies love doesn't concern me. Be that as it may, whom I work with outside of Beacon isn't a matter that everyone needs to know." I replied, groaning further when I saw Blake and Weiss looking at the video on Weiss' scroll.

"_Head Hunters_? Intelligence Agents? What exactly have you gotten into Simon?" Weiss exclaimed.

Blake looked at Yang "Wasn't _VI_ looking for that friend of yours? Gary?" She commented as she continued to watch Gregory and I combat Neo, the clip ending as Gregory and I leaped off the freeway.

Yang nodded "Yo Simon, reckon you can help a girl out with a problem? Your apparent friends were looking for my friend but he's gone missing before they found him. His name is Gary Granite, been missing for well over two months now, but none of my friends or his friends or me have been able to find any trace of him in Vale or Vacuo."

I looked at Yang with a quizzical look "I'll make enquiries, but if he's being sought after by them, maybe it's best he not be found until whatever's he's wanted for has blown over." I explained, not really intending on asking around for him, I'd rather not be drawing any attention to myself, at least deliberately.

Yang nodded, looking slightly relived and hopeful at seeing her friend again. "Girl's I expect you to not be telling anyone about my ties to _VI_ or the _Head Hunters_, I'm sure reasons why go without saying."

The three girls just nodded, seemingly seeing me in a different light.

"One more thing: Are you a Cipher, Minder or Fixer?" I heard Blake ask.

'_Of course she'd have an idea on how Intelligence worked'_ I thought as I looked at the black haired Faunus. "No Comment." I said flatly.

"And what about the man we saw you with fighting Neo?" Weiss pressed on.

I just shrugged "No Comment."

"You really are infuriating, you do know that right Simon?" Yang said, crossing her arms as I got to the door.

"No Comment." I said smartly and walked out, 100% done with today, done with this entire weekend.

**Tuesday, S2 Week 2. Beacon Halls. Simon's PoV:**

Teal, Ny and I were hurrying from class and to the cafeteria. With the influx of 150 Mistralan, Vacuan and Atlesian students it had become increasingly difficult to get decent seats in the ever more crowded cafeteria, especially after several tables were totalled in last week's food fight.

"Yo Simmo, I'll face you to the cafeteria!" Ny said hyperactively as he took off.

"Oh it's on mate!" I said as I took off, using my semblance to pull of near impossible turns and dodges through the busy corridor.

I'd drawn neck and neck with Nyanza and could see the entrance to the cafeteria in sight when from a blind corner came a large group of Atlesian students. Even with my semblance and reflexes there was no way to dodge them so I instead angled my shoulder and aimed for the nearest Atlesian's breadbasket while Nyanza just jumped and swan dived into the rest, knocking them all over in the hallway. As we all fell across the corridor, I could hear a lot of Vacuans and Mistralans laughing at the Atlesians as they fell over, their immaculate uniforms ruffled and ruined.

Within a few moments I'd regathered my bearings and stumbled to my feet, slightly dizzied from the collision. "Yo _Mon Capitaine_, we got to do this again!" I heard Nyanza say as he was bouncing on the backs of several Atlesians.

"Nyanza, stop using our guests as trampolines. We use them as tackling bags instead." I said in mock rebuke as I offered a hand for my teammate to get up.

"Excuse me you delinquents! Are you going to apologise for this assault?" I heard the leader say before coughing, his voice raspy from taking my shoulder in the breadbasket.

"Will you apologise for ruining our race and chances at getting decent spots in the cafeteria?" I countered.

"Me, apologise to you? How absurd! Do you know who I'am!?" He said angrily.

"1 more Atlesian teenage boy from an upper class family with a huge stick up his arse since birth?" I answered snidely as I turned and walked towards the cafeteria entrance.

"Hey come back here! Don't you turn your back on me!" He demanded.

I just flipped him the bird and continued walking, having dealt enough with spoilt Atlesian teenage boys with no idea what personal space of hands off meant during my time as Weiss' bodyguard.

Nyanza came to my side "You know he's probably going to complain to Ozpin and the Atlesian headmaster?" He said, still laughing.

"I know, and I really don't care. Atlesians manage to irritate me to absolutely no end with only a few exceptions." I replied as I entered the cafeteria, seeing that the students from different schools were all mixing and that the area hadn't been divided by school. "Well This ought to be interesting, What do you think, sit with RWBY and JNPR as normal or sit with some foreign students and size up the competition or incite some rivalry?" I asked Nyanza as Teal walked up to my other side.

"I saw what you two idiots did, nice job you successfully knocked over General Ironwood's son, Cyan Ironwood." She said, satisfaction obvious in her voice.

"Wait, I just made Atlas' headmaster's son look like a chump? HA! Gold." I laughed as I headed into the melee that was the food line.

10 minutes and three near-punch-ups later Teal, Ny and I made our way to an empty table in the middle of the cafeteria. "So what was up with you and that Atlesian Simon? You and he seem to have had some words." Teal said as she ate.

"I dislike people from the Atlesian upper class and aristocracy as the Ironwoods are I had to stand guard through too many balls and parties and dinners at _White Castle _where I was treated more like a servant than a highly trained and seasoned protector. That and teenage boys in the midst of puberty are the absolute worst, especially when protected by their upper class privilege." I responded as I began eating quickly, wanting to get to the locker rooms early for combat class before they became more crowded.

"Hey is this table taken?" I heard a voice from behind me, a voice with an Atlesian accent.

"No not at all, feel free." Teal said politely.

I turned and saw myself now flanked by two male students in Atlesian uniforms, the bland grey was almost repugnant to me.

"I'm Viridi, this is my partner Leiko." The Atlesian to my left said, I turned to face him. Noting the golden highlights in his brown hair and green eyes. I also noticed how scrawny and lean he was, obviously a quick and agile fighter.

"I'm Simon, this is Teal and Douche Lord Nyanza." I replied between bites.

"Go screw yourself Simon." Nyanza replied.

"I'd tell you to do the same thing, but someone has already screwed you." I replied, side eyeing Teal as I did, making both my teammates stammer and go red.

"Umm, I think we might go." Viridi said, going to stand.

"Nah, wait up Viri, I like these guys. Reminds me of my Sister and her buddies in the Atlesian Grenadiers, always laughing and poking fun at each other. Contrary to popular belief not all of us Atlesians have sticks jammed up our posteriors at birth, some of us are capable of fun." The other Atlesian, Leiko said. Humour in his voice as he smirked, his one brown and one green eye lighting up as he laughed, seemingly at home among the more casual atmosphere of Vale and Beacon.

Viridi looked at his friend and partner but shrugged. "Why not, can't be worse than having to listen to Cyan speak about his father anymore. I swear that kid a parrot, always singing General Ironwood's praises. I'm sure the bodyguard of Weiss Schnee herself would make excellent company regardless" Viridi said, relaxing back into their seat.

"Seems my reputation proceeds me." I mumbled.

"Of course it does, you fought in the _Fist_, while it still served the interests of humanity and Atlas before it went rogue and tried to conquer the Highlands as well as assassinating Atlesian councillors. Then you went on to protect the Heiress of Atlas' most respected family. You're quite a respected person in much of Atlas, especially in the midlands and highlands where you stand as the _Vengeful Shadow _protecting them from _White Fang_ aggression, and if the rumours are true you're still protecting humanity by night." Viridi said in almost admiration.

I raised an eyebrow, not impressed that the rumours about my night time activities were spreading like wildfire. I resisted chuckling that they didn't realise that I was one of the assassins of the Atlesian Councillor.

Teal and Ny looked at me "Oh Sienna is just going to love hearing that the Atlesians respect you for what you did _Mon Capitaine_." Teal said frustrated at the Atlesian tendency to admire _Black Fist_ fighters, at least the ones who didn't try to break away into their own kingdom.

"Viridi, maybe keep that little belief out of the ears of the Faunus students here, I imagine they won't take too kindly to the worshipping of murderers and war criminals." I grunted as I sipped at my drink.

Viridi and Leiko nodded, seemingly not approving with my appraisal of myself as a criminal before they silently and then began eating.

"So tell me Viridi, Leiko. What's the Atlas academy like?" I asked, trying to break the tension.

"Rigid, we live in barracks with daily inspections by professional sergeants and Sergeant-Majors from one of the four Royal Guard Infantry Regiments, we march as classes from barracks to class or lunch, everywhere really. Our meals are military rations, some are older than our parents. We even get ranks and are subordinate and subservient to the senior and junior classes who act as officers and NCO's, well and Cyan is also an NCO just because he is Ironwood's boy." Viridi explained, which made sense given that Ironwood had recently been given command of the Atlesian Military and their academy.

"We're also taught how to command platoons of soldiers or Atlesian Knights and how to use infantry weapons." Leiko added on in a monotone.

"Wow, sounds more like an officer's academy than a Hunter academy. Do you even learn how to be hunters?" Nyanza asked.

"We do, we just mix it in with military training and discipline." Leiko replied in a short, sharp and straight to the point manner.

"Well what about when you guys aren't studying?" Teal asked.

"What free time? First year's schedules are meticulously managed 7 days a week during the semester. As we progress into the upper classes we get more free time." Viridi explained.

I nodded before launching into a conversation about the _Atlesian Rugby League_ competition and was glad to hear my preferred team, the Broncos had made the finals and ran 2nd during the regular season.

**Combat Class, Simon's PoV:**

As I walked into combat class, this time without my armour covering poncho. Despite that I felt a lot of eyes on me and I heard the word 'Cipher' whispered more than once as I walked through the spectator stands, not that I really minded, the idea of being a _Cipher_ agent was rather interesting from what I'd seen of Gregory.

I saw my team sitting with Viridi and Leiko. The pair had been rather standoffish at first but quickly warmed up to us, they weren't as up themselves as other Atlesians such as Cyan, they'd kept their mouths shut about my perception among many Atlesians when Sienna showed up, still looking worse for wear and with an order from Beacon's Doctor to not fight this week. But she still wore no head covering, showing her wounds for all to see, I had to say I was immensely proud of my partner even if we weren't still on friendly terms, but I feel that she had softened up towards me seeing I genuinely did care and worry about her. But worried about her I was, she looked so meek and miserable and had obviously been crying more and more.

Looking to our new friends I saw Leiko wearing a pale grey sneaking suit with the odd piece of Atlesian armour at his right shoulder and knee, but other than that no sort of protection, I saw one glove with electric dust woven into it and a skana in the other hand. Viridi on the other hand had a P90 nestled in his lap, spare mags in holders sown into his green zip up jacket, both looking eager for a scrap.

Miss Goodwitch stepped into the arena, her oversized scroll in hand "Now students, the students from the three other kingdoms are all here and qualified for the tournament, but as hosts we have more time to pick. There is three more weeks to secure your spots in the tournament for the Beacon students. Our first match up today will be a tag team match. Solemn and Artheal Achernar of team SALT versus Leiko Maris and Viridi Terrore please come to the arena."

We watched as the four combatants made their way into the arena all four looking stern, the Valeans sizing up the Atlesians and vice-versa. Taking up their places in the arena the pairs took up arms and flourished their weapons. "BEGIN!" Goodwitch commanded.

**Third Person PoV:**

Viridi immediately raised his P90 and opened up on Solemn, his rounds missing Solemn as she aimed her musket's stock into the ground and fired, propelling her into the air as she drew back the flintlock and aimed at Leiko, firing again, forcing her higher and the impact of the round on Leiko forcing him back before he could strike out at Artheal with his skana. Artheal used this advantage and charged forward with his great sword, swinging up at Leiko who only just managed to stop the savage strike with his skana. Leiko parried the strike and moved swiftly to strike at Artheal twice in the right flank before the great swordsman could block the 3rd strike and the pair returned to neutral stances, making probing strikes at each other, testing each other.

Viridi and Solemn were taking shots at each other, Viridi with their rapid, suppressing fire while on the move and Solemn dancing among the bullets, taking aimed shots with her musket, with a twirl Solemn drops a .69 ball into the barrel before each pull of the flintlock readying another charge of dust. Solemn takes a knee and snapshots another round at Viridi, never missing. Her coat tail swaying in the wind as she sprung up, using her musket as a pole vault to avoid most of the next burst from Viridi, having been stationary all of two seconds.

Solemn ducked behind one of the pillars to reload her musket, named _Valiant_ once more. The moment she heard Viridi stop firing, she rolled out the side she'd ducked in from and fired off her round, striking Viridi's weapon, knocking it from their hands. As Viridi scrambled for the P90, Solemn expertly fired off two more rounds from her musket before drawing a foot long socket bayonet from her waist and affixing it to the barrel and bayonet charged Viridi who'd just retrieved their weapon. Seeing the charging Solemn, Viridi smirked and pressed a button on the P90 which ejected the magazine and the gun transformed into a polearm and spikes appeared at each end that gave the weapon the appearance of two pick axes put end to end.

"Bring it Solemn!" Viridi yelled as he charged, leaping into the air and twirling his weapon in the air until he nearly landed when he went to slam the spikes down into Solemn's head. Solemn used a high block with her musket and blocked the strike, taking a knee to absorb the downward force before parrying to her side and sending Viridi rolling away. Solemn fired another round before Viridi was back in her face, swinging the polearm, this time getting a good sweeping strike at Solemn's legs, knocking her over. Viridi struck Solemn again in the stomach, draining her aura heavily. Viridi went to strike at Solemn's flank with a spike but Solemn rammed her bayonet up, striking Viridi in the groin, the pointed blade not causing any real damage but the threat of emasculation was more than enough to make Viridi leap away and allow Solemn to take her time getting up and reloading, both fighters drained from their exchanges of fire and stabs.

Artheal and Leiko were continuing to trade blows, both highly aggressive as Artheal went for a downward strike only to be blocked and deflected away by Leiko's Skana. Leiko surprised Artheal by launching lightning from his glove, laced with electric dust. The shocked Artheal stumbled back, Leiko pressed his advantage. Pushing forward, the lean Atlesian jumped and bounced around, launching quick stabbing strikes at Artheal with the Skana, first at Artheal's head and then collarbones, ribs, abdomen and finally waist. Artheal was down to half Aura before an orb of blinding light appeared in front of Artheal, Leiko covered his eyes and never even saw the stabbing strike which hit him in the chest and sent him flying. Artheal charging and swinging his great sword down, striking Leiko in the abdomen, sending his aura nearing the red. Leiko struck out with the lightning glove again, Artheal once more being sent back as his sword acted like a lightning rod, giving Leiko the time he needed to get back to his feet.

Elsewhere Solemn was stabbing at Viridi who parried with one end of his polearm by twirling it diagonally, sliding Solemn's bayonet into the ground. Viridi changed the direction of the twirling with their double ended pick axe and slammed the other end down into Solemn's shoulder, her musket unable to defend her.

"Ahh" the girl cried out as the spike impacted against the armoured plate on her right shoulder. Solemn dropped her musket and her left arm reached quickly into her jacket and withdrew a pistol, quickly firing several rounds into Viridi as he readied for another strike. The impacts of the pistol rounds forced Viridi staggering momentarily, but long enough for Solemn to regain control of her musket and fire off one more round, striking Viridi in the forehead, completely depleting Viridi's aura. Solemn fell to her knees, puffed out from the frantic pace of her and Viridi's fight. Holstering her pistol and leaning against her musket as she reloaded she saw Artheal split his great sword into two smaller single handed swords.

"Come on Artheal! Don't make me need to embarrass you by helping you!" Solemn called out as she adjusted the tails on her blue coat that hung down towards her knees as well as the maroon vest underneath.

Artheal used one sword to kite the electricity away from his face as he pushed forward step by step towards Leiko who stopped the flow of electricity as he leaped forward and began duelling with the now dual wielding Artheal who swung down with one sword forcing Leiko to parry with his Skana, while Artheal used his second sword to stab low at Leiko's lower intestines, the force pushing Leiko back. Leiko swapped his Skana to his other hand and electricity began to course through the blade and he changed tack, leaping at the still recovering Solemn who barely managed to parry the electrified sword with her musket, but couldn't stop the punishing kick to the ribs that followed as soon as Leiko landed. Solemn gasped and Leiko once more swapped sword hand and grabbed onto Solemn's head with the electrified glove, shocking the Musketeer until Leiko was knocked away a few seconds later by Artheal with a savage slash from his once more combined great sword.

Leiko went skidding across the arena as Solemn and Artheal stood together, Artheal's sword turning into a revolver rifle and Solemn loaded her musket.

Leiko realised he was out of options and stood, sword at the ready "Well shit" the Atlesian said before the Achernar siblings opened fire, cutting down what little aura Leiko had left.

"The winners are Solemn and Artheal of Beacon." Goodwitch pronounced.

The students of Beacon, Haven and Shade went wild with excitement at seeing the Atlesians trounced. A few Atlesian boos were heard but most clapped.

After the combat class, Simon and SNST walked out of the combat arena and towards the locker rooms. Outside they heard several angry voices, there against the wall was Leiko and Viridi standing rigidly to attention like proper soldiers while several other Atlesians stood by watching Cyan berate them.

"How dare you disgrace COLT Squad and Atlas like that! The other schools LAUGHED at us, you will be running punishment laps all afternoon, am I clear?" Cyan bellowed, obviously not impressed that they'd lost.

"Yes Sir!" Leiko and Viridi said in unison.

"Good, now out of my sight!" Cyan growled as the partners snapped to attention and began marching away, another student yelling _'Left, Right, Left Right'_ to make sure they kept in step as they went off for their punishment for losing.

"Wow, being a giant douche must run in the Ironwood family aye?" Nyanza commented, nudging Simon in the ribs.

"No, it's just an Atlesian thing." Teal and Sienna commented in unison. "Or people who spend an inordinate amount of time amongst them." Sienna added on at the end with a snarl.

"Sienna, not all Atlesians are bad. Weiss, Winter, Leiko, Viridi, Kru-" Simon caught himself before he finished the name, a man whose initials were painted onto his shoulder plate. He shook it off and side eyed his partner "Try to not judge an entire Kingdom on its snobby aristocracy, most of them are pretty good people, if a little Weiss cold at times." Simon replied, chuckling to himself.

My team groaned "Simon, please don't. I've lived with Yang's puns since I began combat school, I don't need you as well." Nyanza said, looking like he was traumatised.

"Fine, I'll stop." Simon replied as he looked around the halls and sighed.

Teal noticed this "I'm sure she's fine Simon." She said reassuringly.

"I hope so, I trust her teammates to keep Velvet safe." Simon replied as he walked on ahead, needing some time to himself between classes.

**Thursday Night, Beacon Rooftops. Simon's PoV:**

It had been a long week, extra team training each day to strengthen Sienna up. She didn't even complain or bitch and followed all of my orders, though she always was had a look of misery on her face and she'd wince whenever she'd go to scratch her now lost ear and try to hide the fact she did. We didn't say anything but we all worried for her.

I looked out over the School and off into the distance away from Vale and into the wild lands, where CFVY were currently deployed to. _'I wonder what you're doing. Probably standing night duty, you have the vision and the others don't'_ I thought, missing Velvet greatly.

I felt my hand beginning to shake as I stared off into the distance. _'Damn I miss you Velv, You should be back tomorrow at least.'_ I thought warmly, vowing to hold her and kiss her as soon as I saw her and not give a flying fuck who saw.

But my mood suddenly shifted to anger and I slammed my fist down onto the railing _'What if she gets hurt? Or even Killed?! And all because I was NOT there to protect her!" _I fumed mentally as I began angrily pacing.

"Getting angry about it won't make her come back any sooner? She'll be fine." I heard Weiss say from behind me.

"Doesn't change the fact I'm sitting here useless and unable to do my job of throwing myself into the jaws of death so others don't have to." I replied agitatedly.

"Now you know how she probably feels when you don the masks of _VI_ and disappear into the night to become one of Keeper's Ciphers, leaving her with no idea of where you are, what you're doing or if the next time she sees you you'll be in the infirmary or a body bag." Weiss replied bluntly, stopping my train of thought dead. I just eyed off Weiss.

"It's something I need to do Weiss, you know this. No one else has the expertise I do with the _Fist_, I have a responsibility as a Huntsman to defend Vale." I replied.

"Just as what she is doing right now is something she needs to do. I know you miss her and want her back safe, that's only natural but you need to allow her to do her duty as you do yours. You also have a responsibility to Velvet, to keep her informed and to always come back to her. Remember that, I may not know too much about love or relationships. Such things have no interest to me. But I do know you're not meant to just to leave them in the dark, much like you're not meant to leave partners, teammates of friends in the dark either." Weiss rebuked, but in a soft, caring tone.

I felt my tort muscles relax and I leaned against a railing. "Why are you always right Weiss?!" I griped.

"Because 1/ I'm your friend, it's my job to point out when you're being a stubborn idiot. Which I do on a daily basis ever since I met you. And 2/ I'm a Schnee, we're always right." Weiss said with a small laugh.

"I distinctly a certain Schnee being wrong about her captain's ability, her teammate's intentions and her Bodyguard's willingness to do what's needed to protect her from her father." I responded with a chuckle.

"Humph" Weiss said simply as she walked up beside me and clutched my forearm in her soft, silk-like hands. "Don't worry Simon ok? Promise." Weiss ordered.

I sighed and smirked "Fine, I promise to stop worrying. Not that it really matters, she'll be back tomorrow." I said, relief in my voice.

"Yeah, and then you can take her to the dance next Sunday as a nice way to relax and cut loose." Weiss said.

"Yeah, that'll be a very good night. Then onto our Missions, that'll be something most exciting for most first years." I observed.

"Yep, I've been stockpiling more dust for our foray into the real world of being hunters. I'm guessing you though have been-there-done-that so the excitement isn't there?" Weiss asked.

"Nope, just nerves and a desire to ensure SNST gets back in one piece. Going into the field and testing myself is no longer something that brings excitement and eagerness." I said jadedly.

Weiss just nodded and we stood there in silence for a few minutes, content in the company of our friends. At least until my scroll beeped, taking it out I saw it was Gregory.

I looked at Weiss to leave but she stood firm, stubborn as ever so I answered it anyway.

"Gregory, not a good time." I said cautiously, letting him know I wasn't alone.

"No worries mate, just inviting you to a party tomorrow night, old friends are invited. It's going to be explosive." Gregory said simply. Code for a mission tomorrow, expect there to be a firefight. He then hung up.

"Do I even want to know Simon?" Weiss said worriedly.

"Nothing more dangerous than what I'm usually doing, nothing more dangerous than what Team RWBY was doing last week." I replied as I turned to leave, deciding I needed a decent sleep tonight. "Goodnight Weiss." I said as I walked off the roof.

**Minutes Earlier, Vale Intelligence HQ interrogation room. Gregory's PoV:**

I stood in the interrogation room, a vulnerable looking Koala Faunus sitting across from me. She'd been picked up by a joint VI-VDF-VPD raid on a _White Fang_ safe house discovered by a Faunus Cipher agent working undercover in the _Fang_.

The girl looked no more than 15, younger than even Simon. I pitied her, I despised seeing children caught up in organisations like the _Fist_ or _Fang_ or anything conflict related. I looked at her sniffling. "Girlie, this can be over quickly and you can be back with you mummy in an hour if you tell me what I need." I said, it was a blatant lie. Anyone who ends up on this island in the middle of the Vale Bay is never heard from again.

"I-I can't, I promised my friends I wouldn't say anything, they'd hurt me if I did." She whimpered.

"I promise they will never know. You can trust me, I'm just like you: A kid who got caught up in something stupid." I coaxed, lifting up my black face mask to reveal my still youthful face, well mostly youthful, I had stress lines around my eyes, forehead and mouth.

The girl looked almost shocked, she'd been brought in here blindfolded and it was policy to always wear face masks while interrogating to isolate and break prisoners.

"Ok, there was a warehouse in the docks. I was deployed there stocking and moving and organising all the dust that that mean human, Roman and the _Fang_ stole, Roman uses it as his base. I only got involved because my brother asked me if I wanted to make a little money. You have to believe me!" She cried, finally breaking from lack of food or sleep, fear and the hope of seeing another person's face.

"I believe you, where in the docks is this warehouse?" I asked.

"Umm, lot 16-E." The girl said quickly. "Can I go home soon? I told you what you wanted to know." She pleaded.

I nodded and pressed a button under the table and two masked agents entered to take the girl to a holding cell until transport could be arranged, or at least she would think when in reality the holding cell would fill with pure nitrogen, painlessly and mercifully suffocating the girl who'd not even realise she was dying she'd then be incinerated and her ashes tossed into the ocean…. Those unlucky enough to be brought to _VIHQ_ were never heard or seen again regardless of age or how minor their involvement in criminal or terrorists enterprises.

I shook my head and had a moment of silence for the poor girl who'd be dead and whose parents would never learn of her fate. I then sighed and withdrew my scroll, I'm sure the chance to have at Roman would at least cheer Simon up. I imagine he'd had a stressful week with his injured teammate, the chance to settle the score with the man who'd hospitalised him for months would surely put a smile on his face.

**A/N: **There was more to this chapter but I've decided to split it so I can at least put something out to begin April in a good way. Hope none of you are made for fools this April 1st. –CC Signing off.

Crap, Forgot to Credit the OC creators:

Cyan Ironwood was submitted by **Hands of Destiny  
**Orion Paxton by **Dghornick  
**Leiko Maris by **HeroBladeRiyet  
**Viridi Terrore by **Viridi Terrore**

These Four form COLT Squad at the Atlas Academy. I apologise for forgetting this when I first uploaded.


	56. Apprehension

**A/N: **Hi all, back again with the final chapter before we hit the Breach.

I'd like to send a shoutout to **JudgeofHunters** for beginning their RWBY _"OC vs Series"_ which kicked off with my own Gregory Volker A.K.A. Cipher-9 taking on Fidelis "The Dead Wind" from _The White Mask_ by **The Baz. **He's been given use of several of my OCs so keep an eye out for when they arrive into the fight.

I had some great questions from the chapter about Gregory and Keeper. I'll do my best to explain these two deeply conflicted characters in the story and answer those questions posed to me.

The ending of the last chapter may have disturbed a few people which is understandable, but it signified the returning of the darker elements of my storytelling and confronting events will continue to be a part of this story. Consider this the warning, read on at your own risk because there will be graphic violence, deaths and adult themes as I head through the climax of Volume 2 and into Volume 3. Now onto the next chapter of _From Hunted to Hunter_ –CC signing on.

**Chapter 55: Apprehension. Office of the Keeper, Friday Morning S2, Week 2. Gregory's PoV:**

"You wished to see me Keeper." I said as I stood at attention before arguably the most powerful man in Remnant who wasn't a King or academy headmaster.

"Yes Cipher-9, you requested no reinforcements for your mission tonight not even your _Minder_. May I enquire why?" The Keeper said, studying my facial expression and reaction.

"I feel that just I and Asset "_Legate_" are enough to surprise and annihilate any enemy that maybe in the warehouse. Do we have any recon or intelligence on this area of the docks?" I asked.

Keeper shook his head "Only floor plans, I have no _Fixers_ to spare to divert to this snap mission. I have a dozen raids in Vale and another 20 in the outer colonies planned for this weekend plus dozens of undercover ops and hundreds of surveillance missions, and that's not even including the agents I've had to dedicate to investigating threats against the Vytal Festival. So you and _Legate_ are going in solo, but if you run into trouble I'll ensure you have access to the QRF the VDF have supplied us." Keeper replied calmly, it was obvious his mind was only half with me, half elsewhere planning other things, things with much greater consequences than my operation.

"I understand Keeper." I said automatically, expecting to be dismissed.

"One more thing Cipher-9, never EVER lift your mask up in an interrogation again. We are enigmas, our faces, our identities must never be known by outsiders. I know you don't approve of some of my methods, but you must understand I'm driven to extreme measures by extreme people and I can't 2nd guess myself, if I do then the city falls. But we're putting the _Fist _and _Fang_ under immense pressure and soon they will break and the harsh actions we're forced to do can cease. " The Keeper admonished and explained calmly, curious given he almost never explained himself to subordinates, with the exception of the Four "Ones", the most senior Cipher, Fixer, Minder and Watcher that were Keeper's senior advisors and chiefs of staff.

I said nothing, I just nodded. I tried to not relive the previous night, I pushed it away like so many other memories of things I'd seen, things I'd done and things I'd not stopped others doing. "Will that be all Keeper?" I asked coldly.

"Yes Cipher-9, that will be all. Good luck and good hunting tonight and let's hope you never find yourself as the _Keeper_." Keeper said dismissing me.

I stood ridged and clicked my heels before about facing and marching out, my mind all over the place.

**SNST Dorm, Simon's PoV:**

I was up early and had my kit spread out on my bed, ready to change and depart right after classes and after I'd welcomed Velvet back from her team mission, I also wanted to see the Snipers before Gregory and I headed out hunting. I changed the batteries in my thermal imaging goggles, they chewed through batteries like Nora chewed through pancakes.

I was nearly finished when a piercing scream, immediately turning I saw Sienna writhing. "No! Get away from me! Ahh!" She screamed as her hands went to her missing ear.

I acted on instinct and went over to her at a run and managed to catch her as she fell out of her bed, still writhing in her nightmare. She struck out at me "Get away! Let go you human scum!" She said, still gripped in her nightmare before she continued striking out at me, punching me square in the eye but I dared not pin her down or otherwise restrain her, instead I gently lay her on the ground and backed off, feeling my cheek slightly swelling.

By this time Teal and Ny were awake and about to come over but I waved them off "Don't crowd or touch her, worst thing you can possibly do to someone like her is wake them in a nightmare." I said sadly, having experienced this myself many times before and being on both ends of lashing out in the midst of trauma induced nightmares.

"Why did you do it then?" Teal asked.

"To stop her falling and hurting herself. She doesn't need another trip to the infirmary" I replied firmly, not allowing my orders to be questioned.

We stood there silently for several moments, all pained to watch Sienna writhe until with one cataclysmic howl she shot up awake, in a cold sweat and panting heavily. Sienna looked up at us, her eyes frantic in their expression. Teal went up and knelt beside her and took her into a tight hug. Ny knelt in front of her and just clasped her shoulder, I however kept my distance and stood stoically, not letting any emotion leak onto my face as my mind worked out ways to inflict maximum pain to Levi without killing or permanently damaging him, thus giving my partner justice and accomplishing my objective of getting Levi out of danger and getting him help.

I was drawn out of my thoughts by a cough, coming from Teal. I shook my head and looked to my teammates, Sienna looked like she'd calmed herself down and all three were now looking to the assortment of kit laid out on my bed.

"You going after Levi?" Sienna said meekly.

I shook my head "No idea, just got notified I was needed by my friend. But if I do see Levi, I'll be sure to give him your regards." I replied as I walked over and knelt down next to Ny facing Sienna, realizing how long it had been since SNST had been close like this. "You stay strong and keep your head up Sienna, I need you to get better quickly so we can go out on our first real mission as a team." I said, trying to cheer her up.

"What, doesn't kicking the asses of your old buddies the _Fist_ count as a mission?" Ny said confidently.

I just chuckled "No, that wasn't a mission… that was just our duty." I replied, thankful for Ny's input in trying to distract Sienna.

"Teal, why don't you and Sienna go get some food. Ny, mind helping me with my gear?" I said, hoping Teal got the meaning of me getting her to take Sienna away, the Faunus girl was more likely to open up to the other female on the team.

Teal nodded and leaded Sienna out of the room, despite still being in pyjamas.

"So _Mon Capitaine_, why did you keep me behind?" Nyanza asked.

"Because I need your advice. And just because I need help does not give you permission to get cocky." I added on as an afterthought.

"What, wanting to know how to spice things between you and Velvet? I'm sure Teal and I can help." He said jokingly, at least I hoped he was.

I didn't say anything I simply let my hands drift towards _Umbra Vigilans_ as a simple warning.

Nyanza noticed this and gulped "Ok point taken. What do you want to ask?" he asked, this time dead seriously.

"Do you still trust Sienna to keep her head in battle, to follow my commands? She's given me her word, but I need want you and Teal to give me your appraisal as to whether or not she will actually follow my orders… I'd never forgive her or myself if you or Teal got injured or killed because Sienna decided to blow up at me in the middle of a fight." I asked, wanting to make entirely sure that I could count on Sienna.

"She might hate you right now, but that hate is beginning to subside as cooler heads prevail with time. But I can guarantee she will keep her word when we go into our mission. I can promise that Teal will say the same thing." Nyanza replied confidently.

I nodded, their word calming my fears, but then an impish smirk came to my face. "So you and Teal? Is this now an actual relationship or you two still just fucking every time Sienna and I are out of the dorm?" I laughed, causing Ny to stutter and for him to blush.

"It's just casual Simon, so just fucking every chance we get." Nyanza replied in his typical macho tone.

"Well whatever it is between you two, take her to the dance. You know, show her you appreciate all she does for you: be it sleeping with you or as thanks for her not murdering you in the first two weeks we were a team." I said as I sat on my bed and began filling pouches with grenades and filling my bandolier with new flechette magazines that I'd had the SDC send me as I was beginning to run short. I picked up my boot knife, now coated in Aura penetrating dust by the _Fixers_ at _VI_ and put it into its scabbard and put the scabbard into my boot.

"You got to be kidding Simon? That would be all but screaming _Hey Look, we're together!_" Nyanza complained.

"So? It'll be good fun and I know for a fact you'll get jealous and probably bottle the guy who does take her." I said nonchalantly as I picked up my MX-9 sidearm and loaded a 9mm magazine into it, slid the action to chamber a round then ejected the magazine to replace the now chambered round before I opened my medical kit to make sure I had replaced what I'd spent treating Sienna with Peach on Saturday night.

"You just want an excuse to have someone to tease at the dance." Nyanza responded as he went to get his uniform for the day.

"I'll be too busy spending time with Velvet to bother with you guys. Why you so resistive to the idea? Teal not good enough for Nyanza 'The lady slayer' Torres?" I responded as I closed my medical kit once more, satisfied that it had everything I needed, looking up to see Nyanza looking none too impressed.

"You really are an asshole. We agreed to keep it discreet, it's bad enough that you and Sienna know." Nyanza said defensively.

"Whatever, just don't come whining to me when someone else asks her. Maybe one of the Atlesians we knocked over will ask her." I said goadingly.

"How the fuck did we get onto this subject? You were meant to be asking me for advice!" Nyanza said, trying to change the subject.

"And you gave me the advice, now I'm just making conversation. Well just go as friends, have some drinks and dance… it'll be a good night for all, besides you'd hate it if Sienna, Teal and myself all had dates but you had to go stag." I said as I stood, now finished my kit inspection.

"Guess you're right. Simon, how often are you going to keep disappearing on weekends? Because it would be good if we spent more time together as a team outside of Beacon again." Nyanza said.

"Yeah it probably would be good, but I need to accomplish my mission. Then once that has been completed then I promise no more night lurking." I responded, sincere in my promise, It would be good to actually relax on weekends and not spend it out fighting _Fist_ and _Fang_.

Nyanza nodded silently, probably unsure if I was really sincere in promising to stop working with _VI_. "Fine, we probably need to get hurrying, I imagine the girls will be wanting the bathroom once they get back." Ny said as he headed into the dorm's bathroom, the lock clicking.

**Combat Class, Simon's PoV:**

It had been a fairly slow day, Professor Port and Professor Peach both had led fairly boring classes today but at least now was my favourite class and an opportunity to kick ass and instil fear into the hearts of my competitors. I looked over to Sienna who was stone faced, not letting any of us see what she was thinking or feeling, though we knew: there were few secrets when you lived together in a dorm. According to Teal, Sienna was suffering from a post-traumatic stress episode, and was really good at hiding it from others, guess a consequence of the hell she'd had with her guardians so we'd never have known if she didn't sleep in the same room as us, dreams and nightmares have an interesting habit of revealing one's deepest feelings and secrets.

I pushed the thoughts of ways I could help her or at least cajole her to see Beacon's dedicated psychologist… without getting dragged along for my own sessions, I'd done a good job at avoiding having to see Dr Indigo but I knew that many people found me to be somewhat mentally unstable. But of course I wasn't crazy, slightly eccentric and sociopathic maybe but certainly not insane.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Weiss behind me "You ok Simon? I could see the stress etched on your face from the entrance." My friend asked, looking visibly worried, even her tone extolled worry.

"I'm fine _Snowflake_. Just had an early start getting equipment sorted for tonight." I whispered, it was a lie but I felt that what had really happened was an internal SNST matter.

I could fear Weiss' eyes burning into the back of my skull as I watched down into the arena where Goodwitch stood. "Quiet students!" She boomed as she lifted up her scroll "Our first match for today shall be Weiss Schnee and Teal Wolfsbane vs Cyan Ironwood and Orion Paxton. Combatants please take your positions." Goodwitch said as she moved from the arena.

I winked at Weiss and gave Teal a thumbs up as two of Beacon's premier dust wielders entered the arena, opposite Cyan and his partner, Orion who looked unusually tanned for an Atlesian.

**3****rd**** Person PoV:**

"BEGIN!" Goodwitch commanded and immediately Weiss made several glyphs appear and used them to fire a scattershot like spread of Ice towards Cyan. Who commando rolled backwards, drawing a submachine gun as he rolled and fired at Weiss, only for the rounds to be blocked by a wall of rock that Teal threw down with a crack of her whip to cover Weiss.

"Got a plan Ice Queen?" Teal said as she took up her natural combat stance.

"I'll take Cyan, You get Orion." Weiss said moments before the rock wall exploded, through the hole was Orion with a crossbow in her right hand and a cutlass in her other hand. Orion's crossbow transformed into another cutlass and the brown haired Atlesian girl charged towards Teal as Weiss leaped into the air and ran mid-air on glyphs to engage Cyan.

Teal spun her dust vials then slashed her whip in a horizontal fashion and sent forward a hailstorm towards the charging Orion who did her best to run right through it and get to within about 10m of Teal, but Teal spun her dust vials again and cracked her whip, this time a wall of fire emanating from the whip and hitting Orion whose Aura dipped noticeably as Teal used the loss of Orion's momentum to do several backflips to put more distance between herself and Orion, returning to her neutral stance.

Meanwhile Weiss was darting around using glyphs and her rapier as a Lance to stab at Cyan quicker than he can react at least until he managed to dodge one stab and latch onto Weiss' long trailing ponytail and jerk her head back and down into the ground. It looked gruesome and entirely reminiscent of Simon doing something similar to Ren early in semester 1. Weiss slammed into the ground and a large machete like blade slid out of Cyan's armoured forearms and out of the sleeve of his blizzard blue trench coat, he went to chop down at Weiss' midsection, Weiss however managed to raise her rapier and block the chopping strike and summoned a propelling glyph under Cyan and propelled him away from her and into a pillar around the edge of the arena, Cyan firing his SMG, loaded with plasma rounds similar to the Atlesian military at Weiss.

On the other side of the arena, Teal vaulted backwards from Orion who had turned her left handed cutlass into a SMG and was firing at Teal who cracked her whip to throw a large rock at Orion, scoring a direct hit before cracking it several more times to put up several walls of rock at different heights and angles between herself and Orion, using the moment of respite as Orion had to navigate the maze to eject her nearly empty earth dust canister and replace it, the process only taking about 3 seconds as Teal did it entirely by muscle memory having reloaded her weapon blindfolded thousands of times as training.

The last wall exploded and immediately was followed by fire from Orion's SMG, several rounds struck against Teal's aura before she could raise another wall, this time of Ice. Ducking out from the side of the wall she'd created Teal spun her dust vials and chose electricity dust, cracking her whip a lightning bolt cracked out and impacted where Orion had been but had rolled out of the way and charged in to close range with Teal. Teal tried to ensnare Orion in her whip but Orion jabbed one of her cutlasses at the barbed whip, the cutlass became ensnared and was ripped out of Orion's grip but the Atlesian girl was now at melee range with Teal. Orion cut down viciously at Teal who managed to block the strike with the handle of her whip.

Teal fell back under the momentum of the strike and used the momentum to put herself into a backwards roll to put some distance between herself and Orion. But by the time Teal was back to her feet Orion was right back in her face and slashed into Teal's midsection, draining her aura more. Orion went for a second slash which Teal ducked under and used a sweeping right foot kick to knock Orion over. Teal than jumped onto Orion's midsection and slammed the weighted end of her whip down into Orion's throat, only for her to be thrown backwards by the force of a .50 calibre pistol that Orion kept as a final back up.

Teal landed and rolled several times, her Aura having taken a massive hit from the point blank shot. Teal staggered to her feet and leered at Orion before vaulting away into a series of cartwheels which took Teal 30ft from Orion, resetting herself and letting loose another crack of lightning dust, this time it finding its mark against a still reeling Orion, electrifying the Atlesian girl and putting her Aura into the red. Teal checked her own Aura gauge and was satisfied to still be over 40%, point blank .50 calibre rounds would severely dent even the strongest auras.

Looking over Teal could see Weiss was in trouble, Teal had looked just in time to see Cyan elbow the heiress in the face then follow up with a slash with the arm mounted machetes, knocking _Myrtenaster_ out of Weiss' hands. Weiss tried to vault away to retrieve her rapier but Cyan already had his SMG up and fired, striking Weiss in the side and back as she was mid-flip, as soon as there was the smallest distance between the two, Teal had spun her dust cartridges and fired off an ice wall to separate them but it was too late. The heiress fell, her meagre aura quickly hitting the red.

Teal Swore under her breath as she failed her sparring partner. "That's it Cyan, I'm not going to go as easy on you as I did Orion." Teal yelled as she put her dust cartridges into free spin and began cracking and slashing with at different angles, each time a different type of dust being utilised, first a wall of Ice then lightning followed up by fire and rock which combined into a stream of magma. Cyan was immediately on the back foot as the ice blast hit him in the side, he managed to dodge the lightning strike but the heat from the magma blast singed and drained his aura despite dodging it by a couple of metres. Cyan raised his SMG and fired, only for it to hit a rock wall, over the wall Vaulted Teal flailing her whip in mid-air with another bolt of electricity, Cyan rolled away but as he rolled out of it was immediately hit by a rock storm and forced backwards and taking cover behind a pillar. Cyan ducked out and fired a burst from his SMG, but was once again blocked by a wall of ice.

"Come out Cyan, I thought you Atlesians never backed down from a fight?" Teal taunted as she cracked her whip, sending out sparks of electricity towards Cyan's pillar.

"You crazy psychotic bitch!" Cyan muttered under his breath as he reloaded his SMG and charged out of cover, firing as he ran in a zig zag pattern, avoiding Teal's lightning strikes.

Teal spun her cartridges to the fire dust vial and let loose a wide arc of flames that engulfed Cyan, but still he kept running and firing, Teal cartwheeled to the side and spun to the earth dust cartridge as she did, when she landed she cracked her whip and a large boulder was formed and projected at Cyan, it hit him and floored the Atlesian, his Aura nearly in the red as Teal advanced to within about 10ft of him and flung her whip at him, ensnaring his leg on the barbed whip as electricity coursed through it, electrifying and knocking Cyan out of the fight.

As the fight ended Teal walked over and bent over Cyan, her teal tipped blonde hair in a pony tail that flowed over her shoulder. "Now that's for being such a shitty leader to Leiko and Viridi yesterday." She said as she turned and walked away to Orion.

Orion was rubbing her hand against her throat, still not breathing properly when she saw Teal walk up to her and held out her hand "Good fight, you're pretty good once you get close enough to use those cutlasses." Teal complimented.

"Why do I get the feeling I only got close because you let me?" Orion said with a laugh.

"Because then there's no way for me to practice my martial arts or escaping back to range. And it's no fun if I just stand there and fire off an immense amount of dust and people just get nowhere near me." Teal replied as she held out her hand, which Orion took, thanking each other for a fight well fought.

**Beacon Halls, Simon's PoV:**

"Well Teal, someone's certainly been improving. You're definitely been getting better at your dust casting." I complimented.

"Or I've always been this good and I just like to keep my full capabilities unknown, make people underestimate me." Teal said cheekily.

"HA! I don't think people will be doing that too much anymore. You just showed up Atlas' best fighter and made him look like an absolute chump." Nyanza laughed.

I looked over to Sienna who was looking towards the ground as she walked. "Don't worry Sienna, next week I'm sure you'll get a nice challenging match to show who the best girl in the team is." I said with a chuckle.

Sienna just smiled and laughed in agreement, though the three of us in SNST could tell she was forcing the smiles. "Fair enough, if you guys aren't too busy… how about pizza tomorrow night? My treat again." I suggested, thinking it might be a good idea to get the team together outside of Beacon again.

"Free food? I'm down for this." Ny immediately said, licking his lips.

"Sounds good." Sienna answered, still not looking at me and her tone distant.

"Excellent, you guys choose a pizza place and let me know by tomorrow." I said happily, glad our team was beginning to come back together, today seemed like it was going to be a good day.

**That Afternoon, Beacon Landing Pads. Simon's PoV:**

After classes I'd bolted back to the SNST dorms so fast that it would make Ruby look slow. Getting changed and organising my gear and kit before I made my way to the docks where I now sat, waiting for the Bullhead carrying Velvet and CFVY back to Beacon. Looking at my scroll, I'd been here an hour. I could feel my legs bouncing slightly in anxiousness as I waited. I watched students from all four academies leave for their weekends off, even the Atlesian first years were given some freedom to explore Vale.

I lost track of time and began pacing and jogging around the landing pad and checking equipment, eventually the sun was beginning to go down and still no CFVY, I began to get more anxious and nervous. _'Surely someone would have told me if something was wrong? Maybe their Bullhead had mechanical issues and had to stop at an outpost of colony for the night? Bloody stupid technology failing us.'_ I thought as I checked my scroll, I was now running very late and would have to go straight to Gregory's safe house and not see the Snipers.

I felt like pulling my hair out and my stomach was doing flips when I finally did board a Bullhead into Vale without there being any sign of CFVY. I sat, my left foot incessantly tapping on the armoured floor as the bullhead flew into Vale. As I walked through Vale, I could feel eyes on me and the whispers mounting as my black painted armour and the Painted shoulder plates drew attention. It made feel extremely uneasy, especially without a facemask, instead my banana adorned my head.

I eventually made it to Gregory's safe house and entered. I saw Gregory sitting at the table, looking very uneasy. "Hey Gregory, you look like shit. I hope you aren't hungover." I said seriously.

Gregory looked up, his face looking weary "Nah, stone cold sober… unfortunately. I think I've just realised exactly what I've gotten into." He said.

I sat down at the table and looked at my friend "And exactly what was that you've gotten into?" I asked, curious as to what had gotten into the normally contented Gregory.

"That VI acts much the same as the _Fist _and _Fang_ but only with permission and blessings from the Vale Council." Gregory responded angrily.

"So VI enslaves Faunus, assassinates entire families as pure revenge, commits unrepentant genocide and tries to form its own kingdom, free of a particular species?" I asked, pointing out the worst things the _Fist_ and/or _Fang_ were guilty of."

"No, but to gas a 15 or 16 year old Faunus girl whose only crime was stacking boxes for the _Fang_ in a secret dust warehouse and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. That isn't exactly ethical." Gregory responded shakenly.

"That might be a little extreme, but VI has to bend a few rules to break the enemies of the kingdom. They murdered agents under your responsibility, I bet the murderers of the agents watching Tukson aren't moping about regretting killing the enemy. Neither should you." I responded firmly.

Gregory looked up at me "So you're saying the Atlesians should have simply killed us if they caught us in the same manner _VI_ did to this girl?" He asked.

"Yes, you and I did horrible things. We're tainted souls who can never fully be a part of civilised society again. It would have only been just for us to die. You don't know what else this girl has done… might have done if you let her go. _VI_ is a good place for you, it allows you to protect innocent kids so they never end up like us. who knows one day you might find yourself moving higher up the hierarchy and you can change their methods if you so choose, but the only way to beat our enemies is at their own game, it's what tainted people like you and I do so other more innocent people do not have to. So get your head in the game and thinking straight before I have to beat some sense into you. We have a mission to complete, so let's move." I ordered commandingly, much like Ty would have when a member of Rum Squad questioned the morality of what we did.

Gregory looked at me, unsure of what to think about my reasoning for why he shouldn't feel guilty. But he stood and shook his head clear before he finished kitting up and we made our way out of the safe house and into his SUV, both of us donning face masks as we went.

We got to the docks and began sneaking our way through the warehouses, not letting any of the nearby dockworkers see us, lest any of them be lookouts for the _White Fang_, this was a challenge and made the going slow but we eventually got to within sight of the lot that Gregory had learnt of. It was a very large warehouse, and also very plain and inconspicuous, at the far end of the docks from where the raid on the SDC shipments was.

"OK, how do we go about this?" I asked Gregory.

"With this." Gregory replied, withdrawing a pound block of plastic explosive.

I looked incredulously at Gregory "Ummm, isn't this supposed to be quick and quiet?" I asked.

"Simon, since when is anything we do quiet… besides if there is going to be a firefight, we may as well get the first shots off and disorientate our enemies." Gregory reasoned, his voice slightly shaky but otherwise his head was in the game.

"Ok, I'll cover you." I said as I raised my Death Adder and we both charged across the open ground to the side wall of the warehouse where Gregory began hooking up the plastic explosives while I swept for anyone observing us. I didn't see anything that resembled someone watching us on thermals, I felt Gregory tap me on the shoulder and we made our way behind a small crate about 15ft from the explosive.

"Ready?" Gregory asked.

I nodded in silence as I hid my head from the blast to come.

"Ok 3…2…1… Mark" Gregory hit the detonator and a medium sized explosion rocked the area as a hole was ripped into the wall that a car could easily drive through.

"GO!" Gregory ordered as we charged forward through the hole and both of us blasting away an entire magazine from our Death Adders cutting a wide arc across the warehouse.

When the smoke settled we saw that there was very little left in the warehouse except a few empty boxes and offices. I looked to Gregory "Ummm, you sure about this?" I asked.

"Looks like they've moved." Gregory answered as we fanned out.

I saw a large whiteboard with a map stuck to it. Walking over to it I saw a map of Vale, chuckling at the marking of 'Dumb cops' on it, recognising Roman's handwriting. It was then that I heard a noise from outside the warehouse.

"Gregory?" I asked as I turned to face the door and lifted my Death Adder to my shoulder, taking aim through the holographic sight.

"I know, I'll check it out." He said as he crouch ran towards the hole we'd created.

But out of nowhere something punched through the main door at the front of the warehouse and flew towards me, I lunged to my right to avoid the projectile.

Standing up and dusting myself off I saw the projectile was in reality Levi, and he looked beyond pissed. I immediately let my Death Adder hang by its sling and drew _Umbra Vigilans_. "Ok Levi, drop the tomahawks!" I ordered, extending the blades of my staff extending.

Before Levi could respond the sound of boots hitting concrete caught my attention. When I glanced back at the hole Levi had made in the wall a lone figure in a coat of plates was advancing on us. As he came into the warehouse's light I saw the tell-tale mask that announced his loyalties. Without a word he drew an arming sword with his left hand and antique pistol in his right.

"So you're one of the fable Grey Mask Hunters? Got to say I'm not impressed, so do please fuck off." I said snidely.

The assassin acted as though I wasn't there. He advanced on his target at a brisk walk, with his blade held off towards his left side but was stopped by Gregory no more than 10ft from the door. "Levi Hartman, you are surrounded. The Grandmaster has ordered that I neutralize the threat you pose to the citizens of Vale. If you surrender now your life will be spared. Should you refuse my offer you will not leave this place alive."

"My partner is right… fuck right off Grey Mask, this is a VI operation now." Gregory replied, aiming his Death Adder at the Grey Mask.

The Grey Mask finally addressed us. "Why you're here right now is not my concern. What is my concern though is that you and your partner have personally failed to apprehend the Apache on several occasions. The time came where Keeper requested that my order clean up the mess."

"He's wanted by _VI_ for questioning, we'll be taking him in. You can respect that or we can kill you" I replied, readying myself for a fight.

"What can he tell you that Keeper doesn't already know? Is that information worth the dozens of innocent lives he has taken? Is it worth the countless lives he will end should he escape you again?" The masked intruder queried.

"I'm warning you Grey Mask! Back away and go find someone else to execute, you got 10 seconds to get out of my sight before you lose your sense of sight." Gregory ordered, motioning with his Death Adder towards the door.

"Is that a threat Cipher?" The assassin's threat hung in the air as the Grey Mask stood firm, his weapons drawn, not heeding our warnings.

"Not a threat, a promise!" Gregory said threateningly, taking aim with the SMG, finger on the trigger.

It was then that several shots rang out, I had been distracted for one second too long and Levi kicked me in the back of his artificial knee and fired into my back with one tomahawk and at the Grey mask with the other. The Grey Mask raised his pistol only to be thrown off by the force of an entire magazine worth of .45 SMG bullets slamming into his upper torso as Gregory slung his SMG to his back and drew his daggers, charging the Grey Mask. "You Apprehend Levi! I'll keep this shit kicker off of you!" Gregory ordered as he kicked the Grey Mask savagely enough to send him flying out of the warehouse.

I turned to Levi, who by now was on his feet, tomahawks aimed at me "It's your day of reckoning Simon!" He smirked sadistically, recognising my weapons.

"Oh I don't think so Levi. You're going to suffer tonight" I said as I flourished _Umbra Vigilans_.

Levi charged me, guns blazing. I charged in to meet him swinging my forward blade upwards towards Levi's lower abdomen while he used one of his tomahawks to block my strike and used his other to slam down into my right shoulder while my weapon was out of position, striking in a small area near my neck not protected by my shoulder plates.

I kicked at his knee in retaliation and vaulted back, dropping a flashbang grenade as I did. I took cover behind a pillar as the grenade exploded in blinding light and deafening sound then re-emerged and fired a long stream of flechettes towards Levi who was temporarily blinded but managed to stumble into cover. I drew and lobbed a fragmentation grenade towards his cover, I readied to charge only to be surprised when the grenade was thrown back at me.

"Fuck!" I growled as I lunged quickly for cover but not fast enough, the grenade exploded and the shrapnel peppered my back.

I looked to my wrist mounted scroll and saw my aura had dropped below 80%. Snarling I charged Levi, slashing on and upwards diagonal to knock his tomahawks out of position then slashed back the way I'd come, slashing across his chest. I followed this up with a stabbing strike at his midsection. By this time Levi had recovered and blocked the strike with his left hand, locking my staff in the crook between the handle and head of his tomahawk and shoved my staff out to my side, nearly causing me to lose grip with the one hand I still had gripping it. He swung his 2nd tomahawk at my flank, it impacting against my reinforced plates that I'd added on. I smirked "Not this time Levi you shit." I said as I used my free hand to grab his forearm and wrenched it to an awkward, causing Levi to bend his body with the pressure I exerted on his arm.

I dropped _Umbra Vigilans_ to free up my other arm which I used to make a chopping attack at his throat. This slammed Levi into the ground I went to roll him into and arm bar and try to snap bones and dislocate joints but as I went to grab his arms I was met with instead a knee in my ribcage. I doubled over and Levi fired up at me with one of his SMGs, making me stumble backwards. As I did I heard a click and looking down I saw a grenade latched onto one of my grenade pouches.

"You motherfucker!" I yelled as I scrambled to get the grenade off me. I managed to get it off me and drop it but it exploded before I could lunge away. The explosion sent me flying and Levi capitalised, charging forward with immense aggression. I didn't have my battle staff so I extended my gauntlet blades and blocked the downward slashes by forming a cross with my gauntlet blades. I slammed my left steel capped boot at Levi's right ankle, trying to make him buckle but he lunged back and twirled his tomahawks in his hands, taunting me.

I charged at Levi, assuming a boxing stance when I got into melee range and threw jabbing punches at Levi's midsection getting as close as I could to him to minimise the defence he could mount and prevent him getting good offensive strikes off. My blades stabbing at him as I punched. Using the armour on my gauntlets to block the hacking strikes that Levi launched at me in retaliation when he put enough space between us. He hacked at me with his left tomahawk and I swatted it away with my right gauntlet before retaliating with punch to his lower intestines, he used his aura to block the strike and retreated to range and fired his SMGs at me, using his advantage in that respect to pepper me with rounds. I withdrew and lobbed a smoke grenade and unslung my Death Adder and emptied a magazine at him, forcing him to take cover.

As smoke filled the area I ran out with my thermals on into the open area towards where I'd dropped _Umbra Vigilans_ I saw tracer fire dancing brightly in the smoke as Levi fired blindly into it. I was within maybe 9ft of my battle staff when an explosion threw me sideway, Levi had tossed a grenade into the smoke, roughly where my weapon was. I rolled across the ground and was up, looking to my aura gauge it read 47%. I saw Levi charge out of the smoke, his tomahawks raised. I used my semblance and ducked under the horizontal slashes he made at my masked head, tackling him I retracted my blades and took to simply bludgeoning his skull. I was mad and I let loose, unleashing the pent up anger, I felt satisfied when I busted open his cheek violently and blood splattered onto me "That's for Sienna!" I growled.

Levi tried to lash out at me with his tomahawks but couldn't get any good leverage so he took a page out of my book and rammed his knees up into my balls I groaned in immense pain as I rolled off of Levi and he grabbed the back of my mask and slammed my face into the ground repeatedly, the 2nd slam was so savage that it shattered my thermal goggles in the process I was lucky I had my mask on or it may have caused severe damage to my eyes.

I could feel a mild concussion coming on by the third slam and I reached for my ace in the hole. I rocked my body to shake Levi's grip momentarily and my left hand rocketed to my left boot and pulled out my flick knife and drove the 3 inch blade into Levi's right leg, the aura penetrating dust that coated the blade, courtesy of _VI_ Fixer agents ensured that the blade plunged straight into his thigh, I twisted the blade and Levi howled in pain before I withdrew the blade and rolled away, blood soaking my face mask to the point I had to lift it up to see. I scrambled and took hold of _Umbra Vigilans_, hosing Levi with flechettes as he limped for cover.

"You're getting better Levi! But still not as good as me!" I said as I spat blood out of my mouth and onto the ground, my head spinning.

A grenade was tossed at me from Levi's cover and I used my semblance slow time down in order to position myself to bat it right back at him with my battle staff. I miss hit it and it flew into a pillar and exploded, followed by several secondary explosions as a large box of volatile dust that had been left behind exploded, shattering the pillar and making the roof and upper catwalks collapse and setting several small fires. Both I and Levi charged each other, meeting on a large slab of collapsed catwalk that was still in mid-air. He savagely chopping around into my back, but once more meeting armoured plate while I missed a lancing strike at his ribs due to him contorting his body to dodge it.

I swung up at his head with the forward blade of my staff at his head then speared the rear blade down into his now injured thigh. Making my opponent howl in pain as I followed it up with slamming my armoured shoulder into Levi's face to make him stagger back, him firing to try and slow my momentum. I get up close to him and swept at his legs with my staff held 1 handed, Levi jumped the sweeping strike. I spun on my heel and swung _Umbra Vigilans_ down at the top of Levi's head, throwing my entire body weight behind the strike. Levi took a knee and crossed his tomahawks in a block. The force of our weapons meeting echoed loudly, the twisted and broken catwalk gave way and Levi fell several metres and rolled the landing and holstered his tomahawks, drawing a shillelagh, it was certainly Sarah's former weapon. I jumped down and set myself in a combat stance, reloaded a fresh magazine of flechettes.

"Give it up Levi. Surrender and you'll live through this night. I don't want to kill you, unlike that bastard in the Grey Mask." I asked, keeping my distance.

"Why would I surrender to you Simon? You filthy Faunus lover. Bedding a Faunus whore." He snarled as he reached into his shirt and withdrew a piece of cord wrapped around his neck, hanging from it was Sienna's ear. "How do you think this would look between two rabbit's ears?" He asked sadistically.

The colour drained from my face as I saw that big floppy tawny ear hanging around his neck. "You're a special kind of sick Levi, I almost want to kill you right now. But my loyalty to the real you and to Gregory and Sarah and every other orphan matters more than your mentally deranged threats and I'm not going to kill one of my own, so count yourself really lucky, But I will hurt you." I yelled at my mentally deranged friend I spat some more blood out of my mouth and wiped some out of my eyes.

Levi just screamed and fired wildly at me with the assault rifle function of Sarah's weapon, probably in response to me using her name. I dodged behind twisted chunks of roof and catwalk before leaping towards Levi and swung down heavily at Levi with my staff. Once more Levi took a knee and blocked the strike. I landed and immediately followed through with a flourish of my staff and a horizontal slash at Levi's neck. Levi dodged under it and rammed the club end of the shillelagh into my breadbasket.

I reeled but stayed standing shakily, holstering _Umbra Vigilans_ I ran in and deflected a downward bludgeoning strike from Levi off of my left armoured shoulder plate, spinning from the inside to outside of his swing and grabbed his arm to wrench it behind him and I tripped Levi up making him fall face first into the concrete floor. I dug my knee into the small of his back my forearm around his neck and wrenching it upwards, cutting the air off and the angle made it impossible for Levi to resist or retaliate against me.

"Drop the weapon Levi, I'd prefer you to not lose consciousness." I said as I heard Levi choking.

He dropped the Shillelagh and I slammed his head into the cement, partially as revenge for him doing it to me. I withdrew a set of aura supressing cuffs and put them onto Levi's wrists as tightly as I could, Levi grunted as the metal dug into his skin.

"Now then Levi, I hope that hurt. Because you deserved that for what you did to my partner." I said in a deadly calm manner.

"Uncuff me and let me fight you!" Levi said as he struggled against the cuffs. I just slammed my elbow into the back of his head and knocked him down as I relieved him of his tomahawks and pouches of grenades, shoving the tomahawks into my belt and clipping his grenade pouches to spare slots on my webbing before picking up Sarah's shillelagh. And whacking Levi in the ribs with it while he was still in the ground. He was livid to see me with Sarah's weapon in my hands "GIVE THAT TO ME!" He demanded, trying to stand up but stumbling back to the ground with his arms tied behind his back.

"No Levi, I think I'll hold onto this for you until you get some serious psychiatric help. I also think I'll take this" I replied, walking over to Levi and ripping his necklace off his neck. I honestly didn't know what to do with it so I put it into a pocket on my pants and began shoving Levi towards the entrance of the warehouse, hopefully Gregory had managed to shoo off the Grey Mask. What I saw when I exited the warehouse was a scene of complete devastation with a steamy mist hanging over the area and several small fires, no doubt lit by Gregory.

"Mother of Agese! Gregory, what the fuck happened out here? It looks like that assassin actually gave you a run for your money." I asked Gregory who was sitting on a crate, the Grey Mask was gone. Overhead sat a Warhead Gunship with nose art of a half-naked woman with a red cape taunting a bull and a name identifying the pilot as Call sign _Matador _and Head Hunters and Valean Commandos swarmed the docks.

"Well funny story about what happened out here while you and Levi did an effective job of demolishing the warehouse." Gregory replied with a laboured chuckle, his nose once more broken and cheek split…

**Earlier, Gregory's PoV:**  
"So you are one of Keeper's elite? No wonder the Black Fist and White Fang are running rampant." The Grey Mask said as he parried several of my strikes, trying unsuccessfully to aggravate me. "Tell me, when did Keeper start recruiting terrorists?"

In response I unleashed a jet of flame from my gauntlets. My adversary didn't have the opportunity to dodge at such close range and was engulfed in the immensely hot cloud of flame. What I didn't expect was the grey lightning that struck my legs less than half a second later.

The electricity caused me to stagger forward and the assassin took the opportunity to shoot me in the leg, sending me to one knee. I drew my sidearm and pulled the trigger as fast as I could, trying to keep him from pressing an advantage. To my dismay the bullets just pinged off of the steel plates.

"State of the Art body armour is a wonderful thing isn't it _Cipher_? Perhaps Keeper should allocate some of his black budget towards properly equipping his soldiers" The question was followed by a thrust towards my head. I ducked under the Grey Mask's blade and grabbed his now extended arm and leveraged it to flip him over, the Grey Mask landing on his back, his arm at an awkward angle, dropping the blade.

I fired another burst of flame right into his mask, and another surge of lightning was let loose in retaliation, sending me backwards. "You should learn to recognise a cycle of action. The gauntlets breathe fire, I unleash lightning, it's not a very complicated process." The Grey Mask said, regathering his blade.

We reengaged with our blades. He tried to thrust towards my unprotected neck and I parried the blow with one of my daggers. Using the other dagger I thrust towards the large lens of Dust imbued ballistic glass that covered his left eye. He tilted his head upwards and the razor sharp blade instead left a large gouge in the mask.

I felt my Aura drain as I heard another gunshot. The assassin had fired into my hip this time, where the armour was thin, he seemed to know exactly where to hit me. Sheathing one of my blades, I drew and fired the rest of my sidearm's magazine into his right thigh, where he wasn't protected. The Grey Mask collapsed to one knee from the impacts. I tackled him before he would get back up, forcing us to grapple with one another, me holding my sidearm by the barrel and bludgeoning his throat with the grip, I then dropped the pistol and redrew my dagger as he gasped for air.

On the ground I held the advantage, the assassin couldn't bring his sword or pistols to bear while I was free to assault him with my daggers. He seemed to realise this and draw a dagger of his own, with a shorter, thinner blade than my own. I tried to drive my knife into his neck, only for him to tuck his chin and redirect the blade to the left. He responded by attempting to stab me under the armpit, my own arm pinned his in place. I flipped one dagger into a reverse grip and slammed be pommel onto the middle of his mask, cracks spider webbed out from the centre of impact, but the mask held its integrity, but only barely. The Grey Mask swing his other hand and slammed into my nose I felt the cartilage of my nose crunch under the impact.

The pain of a broken nose caused my adrenaline to spike as I dropped my daggers and punched him in the breadbasket, driving the air from his lungs. He returned the favour by delivering three hammer blows to my left kidney, though they didn't hold much force due to the angle of the swings. The Grey Mask managed to draw his last remaining pistol and club me in the cheek, splitting it and making me roll off of him.

We both stood back up and recovered our blades. Taking a guard position I prepared for the assassin's inevitable assault when he stopped and turned his head to my right. The sound of Bullheads and Warheads approaching from the air echoed across the water. "Well _Cipher_, our meeting is at an end. He sheathed his sword and dagger and reached inside one of his pockets. When I raised my daggers the Grey Mask held up another hand. "Relax _Cipher_, further combat would only be counterproductive to my cause and health. I simply have a proposition." His left hand reappeared in a slow, disarming manner with a business card. "There's a phone number that you can use to contact me if you chose to do so." He threw it at my feet.

I took the card off the ground, not taking my eyes off of the Grey Mask as I was wary of his true intentions. "Why the hell would I want to talk to a man who thinks he's above the rule of law? Grey Mask is just a vigilante group of murderers masquerading as heroes of the night!" By now I had stood and sheathed my daggers and reloaded my Death Adder the SMG now pointed at his mask.

"Should Mr. Hartman escape you once again you may wish to consult with me on how to best capture him. I want him off the streets of Vale as much as you do _Cipher_, but I'm not prepared to sacrifice innocents to save the life of a madman. Are we not of one mind in this?"

My silence was all the answer he needed. The assassin made a sound of disgust. "You're no better than Levi, nothing but a self-righteous pawn in the hands of a tyrant. It is said that no one leaves VI headquarters alive _Cipher_. Do you honestly believe that you will be an exception?"

I kept my face level, not allowing the events of last night to cloud my judgement "Keeper is no more a tyrant than your Grandmaster, and you're just a self-righteous, hypocritical pawn for thinking you or your group aren't terrorists yourselves." I replied as I went to fire my weapon.

Before I depressed the trigger a section of concrete had risen up from the ground between us, absorbing the bullets. Then another Grey Mask, a tall woman in a set of loose fitting grey robes, appeared beside the first. "Consider what I have said _Cipher_. May we meet again under more pleasant circumstances?" The male Grey Mask said.

I tried to prevent his escape with my flame gauntlets but the woman summoned water from the surrounding area. The fire evaporated it almost immediately and covered the area in hot steam. By the time it had cleared they were gone.

**Present Time, Simon's PoV:**

"Well, sounds like he certainly gave you a run for your money. But you won't be needing that business card." I said, motioning to the battered and bound Levi, now flanked by several Commandos.

Gregory nodded as he picked up the card and pocketed it, "I might keep this, and you never know when it might come in handy." He mused as several medics came to sedate Levi so he didn't get violent during his treatment and transport.

"So what happens to him now?" I asked Gregory.

"Well he's going to need to be assessed and a treatment program set out. So to a maximum security facility probably." He replied, sighing in relief that Levi was finally safe in custody.

I just nodded, my body aching all over from shrapnel and bludgeoning strikes. "Well what about you? You going to get out of _VI_?" I asked, remembering Gregory's self-doubts from earlier.

Gregory pondered my question then reluctantly shook his head "No, because if I left then Keeper would just recruit some kid straight of Signal or Beacon, better people like us do the dirty work. Besides like you said I'm good at this job and while some parts might be of questionable morality, the overall objective is keeping innocent people safe and whether or not people like Grey Mask disagree: _VI_ and Keeper are the good guys, just a very chaotic sort of good guy." He responded thoughtfully.

A Medic walked over to us "Excuse me agents but I'll need to ask you both to come over to the ambulance that's just arrived, you both need thorough medical examinations." They said kindly yet firmly.

"Ugh, I hate hospitals and doctors." Gregory whined.

"Hey! My dad and grandad and great granddad were all doctors you ungrateful shit!" I retorted as I made my way over to an ambulance and was laid onto a stretcher, it was going to be a long night of tests I just knew it.

**Saturday Morning, Beacon. Simon's PoV:**

I got off of the medical flight back to Beacon, it was only just sunrise and I was exhausted due to not being allowed to sleep due to a suspected concussion which also meant my head was absolutely splitting in a headache and I generally looked like fucking shit: my eyes blackened, cheeks and lip swollen, stitches across my forehead covered by bandages and bruises all over my body as well as a large dent in my left shoulder plate where Levi had struck me with his shillelagh, my armour and fatigues had blood stains all over them. But despite how bad I looked and felt, I felt satisfied and accomplished because as of this moment Levi was in a psychiatric hospital being assessed by the best psychologists money could buy, courtesy of the blood money I made in the _Fist_ and my wages from the Schnees which I'd saved, I'd achieved a major milestone in getting Levi off the streets and helping his fractured mind recover and I stopped the others that Ozpin had warned me about from harming my friend too much. I felt a great amount of strain lift off of my shoulders as I walked through Beacon's halls, but still mindful that I still had work to do: Ghost, Lachlan and Ty Kruger's killers were still on the loose as well as the _Fist _and _Fang _as a whole. So my job was now elimination as well as capture and rescue depending on if we were rescuing deserters or snatching away officers of the _Fist_, given Gregory mostly worked in anti-Black Fist ops.

I got to my dorm door and clicked the lock as quietly as I could. I entered and saw Sienna sit up, even trying to be quiet and her being injured didn't stop Sienna from hearing me.

She looked at my bruised and battered figure. "This is almost an improvement over how you normally look Simon." She said snidely.

"Funny Sienna, not in the mood for the wise cracks. My head feels like it had been bludgeoned into cement… oh wait, it was repeatedly." I replied sarcastically.

"Can you two please shut up?" I heard teal growl through a yawn before a contented sigh followed.

Raising an eyebrow I saw her and Nyanza curled up in bed together.

I looked back to Sienna "Do I even want to know?" I asked, momentarily forgetting my bloodied appearance.

"They just fell asleep watching movies on a scroll, not what you're thinking!" She said.

"Heh, so much for them being just casual fuck buddies." I smirked.

"We are right here you know?" I heard Nyanza say, sitting up thankfully still wearing clothes.

"I know." I replied before I began taking off my webbing. My aching muscles feeling instant relief as I removed the equipment and bandoliers.

"We're getting off subject, Simon what happened to you?" Sienna asked, causing Teal to sit up as well, looking at me.

"We got him, Levi's behind bars after copping a pretty good beating. Though admittedly he gave as good as he got, I just had him cornered and was a better fighter." I replied, placing my weapons onto the ground beside my bed except my knife and side arm which went to my bedside table.

That news made everyone fully alert, Sienna just sat there wide-eyed. "He's what?" She stammered.

I smirked weakly "You heard correct, in conjunction with my old friend who's in _Vale Intelligence_. We captured Levi who is now in a maximum security psychiatric hospital in a straightjacket and under armed guard." I said proudly.

"What about _Ghost_?" Nyanza asked hopefully.

"He didn't make an appearance." I responded, thankful the walking tank hadn't appeared or Gregory and I really would have been in trouble.

"Well that's only the lesser half of the problem dealt with." Teal said, her head nestled on Ny's shoulder.

I looked to Sienna who looked slightly dumbfounded "And you didn't kill him?" She asked incredulously.

"No, I'm not going to simply execute a person who can be helped. His mind is broken but it can be fixed given proper time and care. That and Ozpin isn't exactly impressed with my tendency to kill in cold blood as I have on multiple occasions, so I'am making an effort to reform." I said as I grabbed a towel and made my way to the shower for a much needed dose of hot water.

Coming back out about after 20 minutes under the water I saw my three team members sitting and waiting for me. Sienna still looking perplexed, probably deciding whether or not to berate me for not killing Levi, Teal was looking over the tomahawks and Shillelagh that I'd brought back with me.

"Keeping trophies I see?" Teal commented, working the action on the shillelagh's assault rifle form.

"No, just safekeeping them. The Tomahawks until Levi's mind has stabilised enough for him to begin training to become an actual huntsman, much the same as me. The Shillelagh until Gregory and I can bury it, as our way of saying goodbye to its former owner, tortured and murdered by the _White Fang_." I responded, dumbfounding my team.

"You actually think Levi could ever be mentally stable enough to be a huntsman?" Sienna practically screamed.

"You got to be optimistic about these things Sienna, what he did to you was wrong, it was horrible but even the worst person deserves a 2nd chance." I said calmly, trying to avoid a fight.

Sienna just buried her head in her pillow, deciding it was too early for fighting with me. I laid down in my bed and let myself slowly drift off to sleep, a relieved smile on my face as I did, all my worries temporarily subsided.

**That Same Time. Black Fist Encampment, Lachlan's PoV:**

"What do you mean captured! I ordered you to keep an eye on him and keep him on mission!" I scowled at the emotionless facemask of _Ghost_.

"He's much quicker than I. He obviously wanted to try and take on the _VI_ agents without me. By the time I was there he was captured and the military presence was too much even for me to handle." The distorted, mechanical voice of _Ghost_ explained.

I growled and slammed a fist down onto my desk "This is unacceptable _Ghost_! Organise a rescue mission at the earliest opportunity, but limit human losses…. We're here to protect humans remember." I ordered angrily, unimpressed that the traitorous whelp Simon had taken down one of my best officers.

"It will be done Lachlan. Will there be anything else?" _Ghost_ asked.

"No, that will be all. Go and help the men bring in those supplies we raided from a convoy in Quadrant 4." I ordered, dismissing _Ghost_.

The armoured man just nodded and walked out, leaving me to my thoughts and plans. The Black Queen had left me only a couple weeks to put my forces and weapons into position before she did something, exactly what I didn't know but that didn't matter… I had my own plans in the works that would destroy all opposition to my ambitions of putting the Faunus back into their place and getting rid of those who sympathised with them, all I needed was the signal and Remnant would change forever.

**A/N: **Well this chapter closes out one arc and next chapter we hit the dance and the Breach, I'm happy with how it is coming together so far but I won't give an ETA on it because let's face it: I never stick to them.

The _Grey Masks_ belong to **Wa7chface**and their story _Evil of Men_, I highly recommend reading it if you want to see more of Team MELT and the _Grey Masks_. I'd also like to thank them for writing the Gregory vs Grey Mask fight, apart from a few alterations by me.

Let me know what you think in a **Review** or **PM** me if you wish, I always reply to either one. And don't forget to **Favourite** or **Follow**–CC Signing off.


	57. Once More Unto The Breach

**A/N: **Hello all, welcome to another chapter of FHTH, I know this has been one you've all been waiting for: The Dance and the beginning of the Breach so sit back, relax and let the violence and climax of volume 2 commence. I decided upon advice from several readers to split this chapter in two, seeing as a 35,000+ word chapter might be a little bit overboard to read in one sitting.

In another piece of news: Yours truly finally got around to buying _RWBY: Grimm Eclipse_ so if you'd like to have a game, feel free to PM me and we can organise it.

Another shoutout to **JudgeofHunters **and their _RWBY OC Vs Series_ for including Simon Alexander in their 2nd fight, so go and check out how he did against Benjamin Carson from _Team AMBR: Finding Redemption _by **Mojo1586**.

Now let's get on with the fun –CC signing on.

**Chapter 56: Once More Unto the Breach. Monday Morning Week 3, Beacon. Simon's PoV:**

I shifted uncomfortably in the elevator as it headed up towards Ozpin's office, hopefully this time not to be chewed out by the headmaster, I'd had enough of being berated by Ozpin to last me a lifetime.

I exited the elevator and immediately felt a very tense atmosphere as I saw three figures and several screens. I didn't let my sudden bout of nerves show on my face. "You sent for me Headmaster?" I said firmly, looking around I recognised Keeper on one of the screens.

"Yes I did Mr Alexander, please take a seat." Ozpin said, motioning for the seat on the other side of the desk. I obliged him and sat rigidly, waiting for whatever the purpose of this meeting was.

"Once again you've been quite busy Mr Alexander, however this time it isn't what you've been doing or who you fought that has piqued our interest." Ozpin said, slightly exasperatedly.

"Yes, tell us about the one who first engaged Levi, I've read _Cipher-9_'s report but I feel I need you to concur with him. He's made some serious accusations in it." The Keeper said through his screen, sounding agitated.

"What exactly would you like to know?" I asked, knowing what question was going to be asked of me.

"He said it was a Grey Mask, and that it had acted highly aggressively towards yourself and my _Cipher_." Keeper asked, I could almost hear murder in his voice.

Ozpin looked annoyed, I imagine he was having to play peacekeeper to keep Keeper a peaceful Keeper. But I pushed on with the truth. "Yes, it was a Grey Mask, yes he was aggressive and didn't heed Gregory or my own warnings to leave, and he seemed to be itching for a confrontation. But Levi was the one who fired the first shots, the rest of us simply reacted to that." I explained, keeping my eyes fixated on Professor Ozpin.

"Thank-you Mr Alexander, and also congratulations are in order I believe, you and _VI_ took down a very dangerous threat facing Vale with the capture of Levi, I hope for his sake and yours that he can be helped." Ozpin said, his usual small smirk adorning his face.

I just nodded, my thoughts turning to the fact that General Ironwood was present, I was slightly apprehensive given I technically was a wanted fugitive, even if the Atlesian and Valean governments didn't know I was. _'I wonder if Atlas would shoot me or hang me?'_ I thought, considering my fate should that piece of my past ever was uncovered.

"That will be all Mr Alexander, we just had to get your side of the events of the weekend, though this did arrive for you, courtesy of _Cipher-9_ and _Minder-27_." Ozpin said, motioning to a box.

I took the box and stood, ready to take my leave from the office and the atmosphere of tension I could cut with a knife, but I wasn't done yet… I had my own reasons for coming here. "Professor Ozpin, do you know what has delayed Team CFVY from returning from their mission?" I asked, trying not to let the anxiousness and fear slip into my voice. I was sure that CFVY were fine, all 4 were excellent fighters but being delayed in returning from a combat mission I knew first hand meant shit had well and truly hit the fan.

Ozpin clasped his hands under his chin and looked to me. "I'm afraid that contact with Team CFVY is currently cut as their area's CCTS Repeater beacon is damaged, but rest assured once we bring communications back online we'll inform you immediately. I'll let you be going now Mr Alexander, you have class to prepare for and we have much to discuss." Ozpin said as he turned towards the screen with Keeper's image on it.

I took that as my que to leave, quickly gathering up the box and leaving Ozpin's office. Once I was in the elevator I opened up the box and found a new face mask, thermal goggles and dust coated blade, given that my old mask and goggles were ruined in my fight against Levi and the dust coated blade lost its aura penetrating properties after 1 strike so I needed replacements, but the gifts from Gregory or his _Minder_ didn't do anything to alleviate the stress mounting as I wondered where Velvet and her team were and what they were doing at that moment, if they were ok or battling impossible odds in a mission gone wrong.

**That same time, Valean Outer Colonies. Velvet's PoV:**

"These things just never end!" Coco yelled angrily above the fire of her minigun as more Grimm ran towards the small island only 5000 square meters in area, less than the area of a football field which was situated in the middle of a large but almost dry river that we found ourselves defending.

Isolated and with no nearby settlements, resources or large military garrisons; the only reason we were here instead of Beacon was an S.O.S from a company of soldiers from the VDF's 2nd Highland Regiment who were being sent to retake and defend this island and its vital CCTS repeater station nestled on this island, so instead of going back to Beacon we ended up here.

Nearby two of the Highland soldiers knelt, firing their rifles to assist us in driving back the horde of Beowolves. One got through the fire and swiped at one of the highlanders, taking her head off. The 2nd stumbled and tried to fire their weapon, which jammed. I vaulted and cartwheeled toward the Beowolf and as it went to slash at the helpless soldier I latched onto its arm, using my momentum I managed to sling it into the ground as I landed, I immediately kicked myself up into the air and did a flip, landing in a savage kick to the young Beowulf's spine, snapping it with the force of my kick. Landing I saw the now dead Grimm begin to disintegrate.

I looked to the soldier who was now slinging their and their friend's weapons over their shoulder and was dragging the corpse of their comrade back into the compound where the currently damaged CCTS repeater was stored, it had been damaged by Grimm before we'd arrived. I saw the broken look of horror on the soldier's face as he went about his morbid duty of throwing his now dead friend onto the pile of corpses that were once a dozen signallers that manned this isolated station full time.

Further along the bank I saw Yatsuhashi charging headlong into a large group of Beowolves, swinging his great sword into the ground, throwing the Grimm back which were then torn to pieces by a machine gun team from the group of Highlanders we'd accompanied here. This area hadn't been culled by the VDF or a hunter in months and the Beowolf population had swelled by several orders of magnitude and now threatened one of the few CCTS repeater stations not placed in the middle of a major settlement or military garrison.

"Team CFVY, back behind the perimeter. We got Warhead's coming in on a strafing run, I recommend taking cover." A VDF officer, a 1st Lieutenant yelled as he took a radio away from his face, scrolls and long range communications may not work with the repeater damaged but the VDF's short and medium ranged radios still worked independently of the CCTS with a range of up to 50km.

Coco and Fox were the first back into the compound as I ran towards the entrance of the compound the first pair of Warheads roared overhead following the river upstream unleashing deadly cannon fire, spent 30x173mm casings rained from the sky. I couldn't help but watch in wonder as dozens of Beowolves were mown down in seconds by the cannons, I hadn't seen what the tools of war could do before from this close up and I couldn't tear my eyes from the scene even as the 2nd pair of Warheads performed a bombing run, each dropping a pair of 1000 pound bombs onto the hordes on the bank of the river. I could almost see the explosions in slow motion and the bits of shrapnel that were once bits of bombs and tree flying towards me. I knew I had to get behind the perimeter wall because the amount of shrapnel that 4000 pounds worth of bomb creates is enough to cut any amount of aura to ribbons. I felt an arm wrap around me and drag me behind cover. Looking up I saw a panting and frightened looking Yatsuhashi looking worriedly at me. I snapped to my senses when I heard the pinging of metal and thuds of wood striking the perimeter wall.

"Velvet, what the hell?" Coco asked accusingly before pulling me into a hug. "Don't scare me like that!" She said, letting her vain and sassy façade drop for a moment.

I looked down meekly. "I'm sorry, I just got fixated." I said apologetically.

Coco just hugged me again. "It's ok Velv, just don't do that again, ok?" Coco said, looking at me over her glasses so I could see the caring look in her eyes.

Turning to the Lieutenant, Coco spoke up over the sound of a third group of Warheads coming in on another bombing run. "How long until we're able to get out of here?" Coco asked, aching for a proper shower and to go shopping to relax after over a week of Grimm hunting around a small, undefended settlement and now here with the VDF.

The young officer shrugged "Until Regiment can send out some engineers and signallers to get the repeater up and running again as well as repair the perimeter wall and its defences. We can't do that until we thin out this horde."

"And how long will that take? We've just finished a week long mission and we only had enough supplies for a week" Coco asked, also wary about our team's supplies, especially ammo for her minigun.

"No idea, you'd have to ask Major Gelb. He's in charge of the Company so it's his call. Though if you see Company Quartermaster Sergeant Verde, I'm sure he can spare you rations and ammo, so long as that minigun takes the same rounds as our rifles or machine guns." The junior officer said as he began walking around checking on his platoon, the 27 men and women whose lives he was responsible for taking a moment of rest while the Grimm regrouped from the battering they'd taken from both us forcing them out of the island compound and back across the river as well as the following aerial bombardment.

I looked to my team, we were all tired and just wanted to sleep but we had a job to do and we knew if we left then all 108 highlanders would almost certainly die, so we would stay for however long it took for the horde to be thinned out. Fox and Coco were leaning against the perimeter wall, Fox's head leaned against Coco's shoulder, the blind bladesman out of breath and now napping. Yatsuhashi was sitting in a meditating position, his great sword in his lap enjoying the precious few minutes until we'd be called upon to fight again. I took a spot near some crates that blocked my view of several soldiers putting the dead into body bags, it made me feel slightly queasy seeing over a dozen bodies just piled up like that but I forced myself to calm down and rest because I knew I'd see more body bags filled by the time we left here.

**Tuesday afternoon, Beacon. Simon's PoV:**

It was the end of the day and I was in the middle of a jog to give me some time alone and to think, my nerves were starting to fray at the complete communication black out between Beacon and wherever CFVY were and I had felt close to snapping at someone or at the very least pummelling Cardin with the fear and confusion of not knowing, I began to sympathise with Ty's widow and wondered if this is how she felt each time he marched off to war.

I stopped and leaned against a tree near the entrance to the gardens on campus to catch my breath, I'd already run at least 3 miles and I still wanted to do another 1 or 2 before I went back to the dorm to make sure Teal was handling being left in charge of Ny and Sienna. I was about to start running again when out of the gardens came a very distressed looking Jaune, he seemed to be aimlessly and he bumped into me, nearly knocking us both over but I managed to grab onto the tree and keep myself up while he stumbled but didn't fall.

"Oh, hey Simon. Sorry I didn't see you there." The blond knight said, anxiety evident in his tone and body language.

"No worries Jaune, what brings you out here?" I asked, deciding to see what was up with the JNPR leader.

"Oh me? Just thinking." He answered vaguely.

I nodded "Ah-uh." I said, coaxing him to keep talking, I was enjoying the distraction even if it meant talking to _Vomit Boy_.

Jaune went to say something then stopped, his face lit up in what seemed like a lightbulb moment. "Hey, you know Weiss better than anyone at Beacon. Would you know what she likes wouldn't you? What would make a great gift to give when I ask her to the dance?" The young knight asked.

The mischievous part of my mind went into overdrive with glee on how to make this entertaining for me. I smirked and wrapped an arm around Jaune's shoulder "Well you certainly came to the right place for advice mate. I know everything there is to know about_ Snowflake_. She can buy anything she wants so a material gift won't cut it, but her one overriding love and passion is music. She loves to sing and if you put in the effort to sing for her then it should knock her head over heels." I said enthusiastically, mentally I was bellowing with laughter at my devious trap and prank but I kept a kind smile on my face now allowing my true thoughts on this humiliating idea let slip.

Jaune looked at me like I was a madman "I've heard her sing, it is so perfect and angelic but I don't think she'd approve of my poor attempts at singing, I'm not good at it." He said dejectedly.

I decided to encourage and cajole the JNPR captain into this act of hilarity. "So? Women love confidence: Brooding and moping out here won't do your chances any good! Trust me mate, I know her best and I say if you put real effort in then she'll accept and NOT shoot you down." I said encouragingly, I knew I was being a complete and utter asshole but this opportunity was just too good to pass up, the snipers would disown me if they knew I'd passed this up.

Jaune seemed to brighten with determination and started running off "Thanks Simon! See you in class!" he said as he ran off, probably to write something or prepare. As soon as he was out of sight I just burst out laughing until I was red in the face and gasping for breath, this exchange had improved my mood and relieved the stress I was feeling. I decided to cut my run short and just walk back to the dorm at a leisurely pace, humming a happy tune.

**That Night, Beacon Dorms. Simon's PoV:**

I was walking towards the RWBY/JNPR section of the 1st year's dorm when I saw Edward coming the other direction, the asshole looked very much worse for wear and walked visibly pained. It was then that my mind clicked and I stared dead in his eyes which were affixed to mine, I just nodded my head at him slowly and deliberately. I was letting him know that I knew it was him that Gregory and I had run into at the docks. Edward's face hardened and neither of us spoke as we passed each other, he got my meaning and his pace visibly quickened as he walked away. I just kept on walking, last thing I needed was a fistfight or a firefight breaking out in the dorms.

I got to my destination, the corner near the RWBY/JNPR dorms just in time to see Jaune with a guitar knocking on the RWBY dorm, I quickly grabbed my scroll and started filming.

The first time Weiss just immediately slammed the door on Jaune and I had to bite my tongue till it bled to not just burst out laughing and have myself caught red handed causing Jaune to make an ass of himself.

Jaune then promised to not sing or strum his guitar, causing Weiss to re-open the door, only for Jaune to renege on his promise, immediately singing out his proposal for Weiss to accompany him to the dance on Sunday night. I almost felt sorry for Jaune, not at all for _Snowflake_ though…. Because as her friend/bodyguard, humiliating her was my special privilege though I found myself sharing that privilege with Ruby and Yang.

I heard Weiss' voice ask him coldly if he was done, when Jaune replied that he was, Weiss without a 2nd thought slammed the door in his face for a 2nd time in as many minutes. I didn't stay to see the aftermath, I had to get out there so I could suffocate myself with laughter at Jaune actually taking my advice and singing to Weiss. _'Damn Simon you're a bloody asshole… but a brilliant asshole at that.'_ I thought as I arrived at and entered my own dorm still laughing and coughing because of the incessant laughter.

My three teammates looked at me like I was a madman. "Umm Simon, what the hell is up with you?" Teal asked, even Sienna who still looked very mopey looked at me curiously.

"Oh, just saw the funniest thing. I'll show you." I said when I managed to calm myself down enough to speak. I pulled out my scroll and opened up the media file to show my team Jaune's attempt at wooing Weiss through song.

By the end of it all four of us were in stitches with laughter, even Sienna was laughing at Jaune's expense. It was honestly great to see her smiling again. "Oh god, poor Jaune…. How could he have thought this would work?" Teal said through her laughs.

"Because I told him as Weiss' _Closest confidante_ that it would work" I said as I rolled on my bed still laughing that this had actually worked and Jaune had taken his attempt seriously.

"You're an absolute bastard for doing this Simon, poor Jaune… but also stupid Jaune for actually believing you to be sincere." Sienna said, still giggling lightly.

I nodded in agreement, resisting the urge to start laughing again.

"Speaking of people asking people to the dance, Nyanza I believe you got something to ask Teal." I said in a smartass tone, flicking my eyes from Ny and Teal.

"Oh fuck off Simon." Nyanza mumbled, angry that I'd put him on the spot like that.

"You were going to ask me something?" Teal said teasingly, joining in on my fun.

Nyanza just looked at me "I fucking hate you." He said before turning to Teal. "Simon is correct: I was wondering if you'd like to go to the dance with me on the weekend." Nyanza said meekly, looking down at his feet.

By this time both Sienna and I were howling in laughter, only making Nyanza's embarrassment all the more intense. He glared at both of us, probably wishing to strangle me at the very least.

Teal had her hand on her chin, pointer finger tapping on her mouth, contemplating Nyanza's request in an exaggerated fashion to prolong his suffering, much to his consternation and Sienna and I's amusement. "Hmmm ok, but you better have something decent to wear. I'm not having you dress like that monkey Faunus that Blake has wrapped around her little finger." Teal said sarcastically, obviously enjoying having the old team dynamic back where we all took the piss out of Nyanza and weren't trying to slit our captain's throat à la Sienna.

Nyanza groaned, seemingly immediately regretting his decision. I simply laughed, this evening was certainly remedying the stress I was feeling, I decided to take this further just because I could. "Ok you two, I'm sure Sienna and I can organise to stay with our respective romantic partners. So you'll have the dorm to yourselves for whatever deviant and perverse things you fantasise doing with the other." I said tauntingly, causing Sienna to literally choke and start coughing as well as laughing.

Teal and Nyanza hid their eyes from me and each other, knowing they had absolutely no come back or way to lie their way out of this. Satisfied that I'd managed to lighten the mood and make Sienna smile and laugh I went to the bathroom to prepare for bed, my mind turning back towards Velvet and Team CFVY, they hadn't arrived back yet and I was beginning to seriously worry. When I came back out I grabbed my scroll and sent a text to Gregory asking if he could ask the _Watchers_ to see if they can't find some log of communications concerning CFVY, it was a long shot but apart from being analysts, the _VI Watchers_ were also in charge of various Signals and electronic Intelligence gathering so they might be able to shed some light on where Velvet, Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi were. Sighing I laid down and got comfortable, forcing myself to give into sleep despite my mind running at a hundred miles an hour.

**That same time, airspace over Vale/Vacuo border. 3****rd**** Person PoV:**

Gary Granite sat aboard the bullhead, his belongings and a case full of Lien beside him. He'd fulfilled his end of the "Bargain" he'd struck with Roman and the mysterious woman he took orders from, they weren't on board tonight so it went a long way to relaxing and easing the tensed up muscles of the young hunter turned hacker.

"This is your pilot speaking, we have now crossed into the Kingdom of Vacuo, still another few thousand miles left and we need to refuel soon, and we'll eat and allow you to stretch your legs." The pilot said through the intercom as Gary felt the aircraft rattle slightly as turbulence hit it during descent, but Gary didn't care… he'd made it, he was finally free of the almost slavish conditions as he created the ultimate virus for these creeps to use for whatever purpose they so choose, he had no guilt at all as he'd be a long way from Vale when whatever they were planning went down, he just hoped his friend Yang and her sister Ruby weren't caught up in the middle of it and they weren't going to get hurt.

The cockpit door and out walked a small, yet undeniably beautiful woman, not even 5ft tall dressed in a pilot suit, long multi-coloured hair flowing down her back. The girl opened a scroll and appeared on it Roman. "Sorry to bother you Granite, just had to forward to you an address of a really good motel you can stay in until you're able to buy a house as well as a list of my contacts should you need anything. You live comfortably and keep your skills sharp, we may need your services again." He said flatly, his eyes not looking at me but off screen where he was pointing around, obviously giving orders to his _White Fang_ thugs.

"I appreciate the help and assistance, at least I'm getting paid more for a few weeks of discomfort than I would have in a 40 year career with the Valean public service." Gary said, looking out the window of the bullhead to see it descend underneath the clouds and a Vacuan settlement below, probably _Cornerstone_ given it the proximity to the Valean border, after this settlement there was nothing for over a thousand kilometres until _Brimstone_.

"Well we certainly know how to take care of our workers, don't we Neo." Roman said with a humoured chuckle.

Gary was about to chuckle, he never saw the stiletto blade jabbed through his back and out through his heart, tying up a potential loose end for Cinder, Roman and the _Fang_. The Bullhead's door opened and Neo pushed Gary out of it and his corpse to fell 2 miles into the desert. "Thank-you Neo, I'll meet you in our South-East base of operations when you return." Roman said sincerely, closing off the video link, leaving Neo to make her way back to Vale.

**Friday Night, CCTS Repeater Station. Velvet's PoV:**

We'd been stuck in this small compound since Monday Morning, defending it from Grimm while a team of about 20 electrical engineers and Signallers went about repairing the repeater, but mostly it was playing a waiting game for the parts to arrive all the way from Vale nearly a thousand miles away. And for water being released from dams near settlements up river to arrive and refill currently drought afflicted river. The soldiers fighting with us had been hit hard, already having lost over 20 men dead, out of 108 in the Company, including the company commander, Major Gelb and his 2nd in Command. The stench of death hung thick over the compound despite the bodies having been flown out by the resupply, reinforcement and ammo run by brave pilots with hearts who did not know fear. The losses had been replaced but getting troops out here wasn't easy.

"Hey Velv, you should sleep." I heard Coco say as she watched out into the darkness through a night scope she was loaned by a soldier.

"Coco, I've had at least twice as much sleep as anyone here, I've gotten at least 5 hours of sleep a night while no one else gets more than three if they're lucky. Please, stop coddling me. Besides I should be standing look out like the other Faunus soldiers, we have natural night vision unlike you and the humans… no offence." I whined as I sat beside her but safe behind the compound's protective wall.

Coco just laughed and placed a hand on my head between my ears "Velvet, I do not coddle you. We both know the limitations of your weapon, you're our ace in the hole and we need to keep you safe until the situation is desperate which it certainly is not right now." Coco said reassuringly as she looked back out through the compound's gate and across the dry riverbed into the forest.

I went to complain further, especially given she'd blatantly ignored my valid point about my night vision but a call sounded and the compound sprung to life.

"Stand to men! Grimm approaching!" Came the call from the Company Sergeant Major as the remaining 80 or so soldiers manned the walls.

"Hold the line men! ETA of 10 on CAS." I heard a Faunus officer say as I limbered up and assumed a stance ready to defend one entrance with Yatsuhashi while Coco ran off to help out Fox.

Flares fired from the mortars lit up the night sky and all through the forest we could see light reflecting off the bony plates as more and more Grimm converged on this small outpost of humanity.

Within seconds my Faunus ears were splitting in pain despite wearing ear protection as dozens of rifles, machine guns and the pair of 60mm light mortars the soldiers had opened up and showered the now broken and shattered forest with yet more explosives and lead. These Grimm were older and smarter than Grimm found closer to Beacon or major settlements, they weaved and dodged the fire, letting the weaker ones go first to be mowed down while the stronger ones ducked charged when a soldier had to stop to reload.

A large Beowolf got near the entrance that Yatsuhashi and I were defending, I charged it and cartwheeled out of the way of its massive swipe with its claws, Yatsuhashi went to decapitate it with his sword but the elder Grimm angled its arms so that the strike dinged off its immensely thick bone plates. The Grimm bit at Yatsuhashi whose aura protected him, I performed a running kick into the side of its head which knocked it over where it was finished off with a 40mm grenade fired from a launcher underslung on a soldier's rifle. Launched from the defenders on the wall

I smiled in a smug way at Yatsuhashi as I offered a hand to help him up. "You owe me one Yatsu." I said with a laugh, only to be shoved down to the ground as Yatsuhashi cut through a further three Beowolves where had made it through the withering fire.

"We're even now." The great swordsman said competitively as he helped me up.

I just pouted and assumed a guard stance ready to kick any Grimm who came near. The cracks of rifle fire and explosions of grenades, mines and mortars echoed through my ears as dozens more Grimm charged at us. Yatsu ran at them and I followed, as we got close he stopped and I jumped, using Yatsuhashi as a springboard. I landed feet first into the temple of a Beowolf, dazing it for Yatsuhashi to bisect with his blade. Another Grimm slashed at me but I had already back flipped out of the way and behind Yatsuhashi as he slammed his sword back into the ground to create a shockwave to force the advancing Grimm backwards.

He and I both were slick with sweat and slightly bent over, trying to catch our breath before the Grimm recovered. We were both exhausted an low on Aura, but we stood our ground when a dozen Beowolves broke through a hole in the firing line while the soldiers were reloading the machine gun they were manning. I ran in to kick at them and disorientate them for Yatsuhashi but I moved slowly because of fatigue and I was hit by a vicious slash from the largest Beowolf I'd ever seen, I hit the wall of the compound and knocked my head, dazing me. I stumbled to get back up, but my adrenaline failed me and I slumped against the wall feeling defeated, my mind flashing to the few intimate moments I'd had with Simon _'I will NOT let us part again!'_ I thought stubbornly as I tried to get up, my head spinning.

I looked up and I saw double, two of Yatsuhashi fighting a huge horde of Beowolves and losing, one had latched its teeth onto his shoulder armour while another one slashed at his back. Yatsuhashi howled in pain and swiftly decapitated the Grimm that had injured him and impaled the one gnawing on his shoulder armour on his sword, but before he was fully free the larger Grimm tackled my partner and smacked Yatsu's sword out of his hands. I looked on in Horror as the Grimm went to bite at Yatsu's neck, but my partner being the massively strong man he was, used his bare hands to grab the monster's jaws and struggle to keep them off of him.

By this time I was on my feet but was still wobbly and slow. Yatsu was slowly losing his struggle and looked moments away from giving in and losing his life. I willed my legs to move my exhausted frame quicker but I could see that I was never going to make it to Yatsu in time. I tried to scream but no sound came out as I saw the Grimm's teeth no more than 2 inches from Yatsu's jugular when past me ran two Valean Soldiers, firing into the flank of the Beowolf.

This forced the massive Grimm to stop trying to kill Yatsu and charge the two Highlanders, both had underslung launchers and both fired into the Grimm as soon as it was off Yatsuhashi. The Grenades exploded and cracked the thick bony plates covering the Grimm's chest but it wasn't defeated, the soldiers backpedalled and fired their rifles at the monstrous Grimm that stood over 3 metres tall when fully erect, it got close and slashed the soldiers with its claws, the soldiers fell together, mangled and bloodied but their job done: They'd saved Yatsuhashi and he immediately avenged them by slamming his great sword into the back of the Grimm, triggering a sonic blast that blasted a hole right through the distracted Grimm which fell dead and began disintegrating.

"CAS incoming! Danger close! Get your heads down now!" Several officers and NCOs called across the compound as the roar of incoming Warheads thundering in rung in our ears. Yatsu and I grabbed the bodies of the fallen soldiers and ran back behind the thick walls of the compound to hear the sounds of shards of metal, bits of tree, Grimm, rock and earth smashing dints into the walls as bombs were dropped onto the hordes of Grimm, lighting brightly burning fires in the dead and broken forest . My ears by this point had gone numb, no matter how much ear protection I used, I was sure I'd have some level of damage by the time we got back to Beacon.

When the ground stopped shaking from the impact of the bombs. We back out through the entrance to the compound to face the next wave of Grimm while the next wave of Warheads launched bombs into the other side of the river bank, the side that Fox and Coco were covering. I looked to the two fallen soldiers that had saved Yatsuhashi at the cost of their own lives, but I didn't have time to mourn in the midst of a still running battle.

"Ready to go again Yatsu?" I asked with a determined puff, the fatigue and strain of near constant fighting was starting to show as even the stalwart Yatsuhashi began to show signs of slowing down. I just hoped that the Grimm assaults let up soon or we were sent help because I didn't know how much longer we could hold out, especially with Coco unable to utilise the mini-gun function of her weapon because it chewed through too much ammunition.

I heard the bone chilling howls of a fresh pack of Beowolves joining the fray. "At least by the time we're finished this place will no longer have a Beowolf problem." Yatsuhashi said as the next group charged at us through the fire of the defending soldiers.

I nodded before leaping into the air to begin the next round of combat.

**Saturday Afternoon, Atlesian Capital. Sanderson's PoV:**

It had taken a lot of organising but I now sat in the middle of a park in the Atlesian capital with the retired Major Silver, we were in an entirely different district of the capital from our campus to avoid being seen and recognised. Which was very difficult for me: Being a recipient of the _Knights Cross of the Blood Cross_, which was highest honour that an Atlesian soldier could earn, both Ty and I had been recipients: though he had the grade of Oak leaves, Swords and Diamonds with his and I hadn't earned any of the accruements to my award.

My eyes scanned the weekend crowds, out enjoying the spring weather when the snows actually thawed inside the city. My eyes caught onto my contact, he had sunglasses and a walking stick, he wasn't actually blind but acted it to avoid suspicion. He got near us and stumbled awkwardly and exaggeratedly. I stood from the bench and lent him my shoulder, acting the part of the Good Samaritan and helped the "Blind" man over to the bench that I and Antonio Silver were sharing.

"Thank-you kind strangers, I do love walking through the park and hearing the bustle of the people out and about and the singing of the snowbirds, but I sometimes over exert my frail frame." The seemingly blind and sickly man said tiredly as he made himself comfortable.

Antonio looked at me incredulously, obviously not impressed.

"I know how you feel friend, my friend here is from Vacuo. Though he doesn't seem to hold the same enthusiasm as you for the Atlesian spring. Why don't you sit with us while you rest?" I suggested, playing the part still.

"Thanks, and while I do perhaps we can discuss what brings your friend here." The "Blind" man said, signalling he was ready to begin talking business.

I nodded and reached into my pocket and handed the newcomer the data stick that Ty had sent. "This is why you're here. You came highly recommended from someone I trust with my life who said you could crack this easily." I said quietly, letting our new friend look over what I'd handed him.

He let out a low whistle "This is a tough little nut, only the Atlesian Government and the SDC are meant to have access to these, but lucky for you I was working for the SDC and helped develop these little buggers, I can certainly crack it. But it will take me a couple weeks and I can circumvent the fail safes in it, you connect this to anything that is part of the CCTS network whoever owns it will immediately be alerted and given a precise location down to the metre of where it's being connected from. Just keep that in mind when I give this back to you hacked and ready to spill its secrets." The young man said as he pocketed the data stick. "Now onto my payment." He said, glee entering his voice at the thought of money.

I sighed and reached into my other pocket and pulled out a pouch, containing 10,000 Lien. "This is an advance payment, you'll get 10 times this when the job is done." I said firmly, not allowing this guy to weasel more money out of me before I got results.

"Deal, I'll even give you a 10,000 Lien discount because you're such good friends with Kale and Shaun. Give them my regards when you next talk to them." The young hacker said as he stood up and entered back into character. "I do thank-you two good Samaritans for allowing me to rest my weary legs with you but I must continue my walk. I bid you goodbye." He farewelled, walking off before we could reply.

Antonio looked over to me "You sure know how to pick them. I just hope he gets this done quickly, I want to get back to Vacuo sooner rather than later." The former militiaman said as we stood.

"Trust me, you think this guy seems odd. Wait until you meet Simon and the Snipers, then you'll meet an NCO's worst nightmares." I replied with a laugh as we walked out of the park.

**Saturday Night, Beacon Dorm Roof. Simon's PoV:**

"Ok thanks Sanderson, let me know as soon as he's finished with it. Then hopefully we can find and kill the bastards who murdered Ty." I said, Sanderson had contacted me that he'd finally found a trustworthy hacker to decrypt the data stick.

"I look forward to it Simon: you, I and the snipers are going to make these people wish they'd never been born. I'll contact you again when I have an ETA on completion, Sanderson Out." Sanderson said as he cut the connection.

I sighed sadly, we were one step closer to avenging Ty Kruger but It didn't help me at all as I paced quickly, wringing my hands with stress. Gregory had gotten back to me about where CFVY was, courtesy of the _Watchers_ of _VI_. She and her team were over a thousand kilometres away surrounded by thousands of Beowolves in a compound the size of a football with a depleted company of crack Highland Infantry that had lost two dozen men and women in the last 24 hours alone as ammo ran low.

While help was on the way, from the nearest garrison and from Vale it wouldn't get there for at least another day. A week's worth of intensive combat: all 4 members of CFVY would be almost completely depleted of Aura even with the breaks between fights to try and rest up and let their Aura replenish. I just hoped that CFVY protected each other, I may not interact with them much apart from Velvet but I didn't want to see Coco, Fox or Yatsu have their lives thrown away in such circumstances. I stopped pacing and slammed my fist into the railings to vent a little bit of the stress. Part of me wanted to pack my gear, link up with Gregory and Alpha Team and head out there to relieve Team CFVY myself but I held off from doing that, I needed to get my shit together and lead SNST on whatever may come on Monday when we go off onto our first official mission as a team.

I could feel myself begin to shake as the stress really began to take hold. My mind running through all the worst possibilities like CFVY being killed or my decisions getting one of my own team killed or maimed. I couldn't bear the thought of having to bury Velvet or Sienna or Teal or even Nyanza as annoying as he is, I couldn't handle losing any of them, it would destroy me. _'Am I really good enough to be a combat leader?'_ I thought as self-doubt set in. I was used to being able to hide in the shadows and merely execute decisions of those in charge: But now there was nowhere to hide and I had 3 people relying on me to bring them home in one piece and I didn't know if I could do that.

I stood up and decided to hit Beacon's 24 hour gym/training room, I felt the need to pummel a boxing bag into oblivion. By this point I wasn't even caring about the dance tomorrow night: I was entirely happy to spend tomorrow night checking equipment, rations, armour and other items required for Monday, I wasn't going to let SNST go in unprepared again or get ambushed or outgunned by _Ghost_ or anyone else.

**Sunday Morning, SNST Dorm. Simon's PoV:**

I woke up later than usual, about 9:30am to see my dorm was a buzz of activity. Sienna and Teal were both hovering over their beds and drawers picking out pieces of jewellery or in Teal's case: That and helping Nyanza pick out a nice tie and wristwatch for the dance tonight.

"Oh, thank fuck you're awake Simon… please help me!" Nyanza pleaded as Teal handed him a tie.

I sat up and stretched "How about no. Hope you three enjoy the dance tonight…. Because it's straight into hard work tomorrow morning." I said as I went to grab a set of gym clothes and make my way for a morning training session.

"Team CFVY not back yet?" I heard Sienna ask, civilly for once: She of course would have been worried for Velvet and CFVY. And I hadn't told them about the info I had gotten from Gregory or _VI_, for obvious reasons.

"It seems not, but hopefully they'll get back before we ourselves are deployed." I mechanically said as I went into the bathroom to change, I was not in the mood for the merriment and teenage angst that accompanied something like this: Though I'd never admit it: part of the reason was a bout of childish jealousy, I didn't want to go in there alone and see all the couples or friends going as dates while Velvy was still out there risking her life to protect others.

"Well you should still go, you will certainly need a night off from worrying about Velvet or the _White Fang_ or _Black Fist_, You deserve it." Teal said as I neared the bathroom door.

"Oh I'll go, I'm not as mopey or irate as Blake is lately. I think I'll just socialise and maybe a get up to a bit of mischief." I mused as I entered the bathroom, thinking on how I could cause havoc without completely ruining the evening for others, but first came training readying equipment and polishing my dress shoes.

**Sunday Afternoon, Lumox Maximum Security Psychiatric Hospital. Gregory's POV:**

I walked, escorted by a psychological specialist, a psychiatrist and four military policemen through the heavily secured and guarded wing of the hospital until we arrived at a small room tucked away, far from any other patients, specially designed to hold mentally broken or unstable hunters. The 3 foot thick reinforced and dust infused concrete separating us from the room's contents: Levi Hartman, who was currently restrained and sedated.

"He's not been responding well to tests _Cipher_. We try to talk to him or run tests or scans of his brain activity and he will thrash, try to break his restraints and make threats of astounding detail and specificity. Then there's the problem of his semblance: He's already attacked a nurse who was conducting tests of his physical health with it and she's now a patient here. So we've had to keep him mostly sedated." The Psychiatrist said as I continued to look through the two way mirror at my friend. He looked at peace, but that's because he had enough sedatives in his system to knock out a Goliath.

"And do you have any results at all from your tests?" I asked through my mask, not giving any sign of acknowledgment about the nurse who fell victim to Levi.

"Not really, apart from confirming your suspicion. His semblance is indeed the major cause of his instability…. He's suffering severe psychosis from a combination of his semblance as well as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the culmination of the last 5 years of his life. We'll continue to study his semblance and see if we can devise a way to control it or at least minimise its hold on Levi's mind. This is truly fascinating stuff I must say." The psychologist mused as he made observations.

I rounded on him "He is not some science experiment or lab rat for you to experiment on Dr, am I clear? You're to cure him and stabilise his mind, nothing more… especially not intrusive experimentation or whatever else you're planning." I growled through my mask.

The Psychologist simply raised his hand in apology "I do not do 'experiments' _Cipher_. First and foremost I'am an evaluator, counsellor and therapist as most psychologists are. My colleague Dr Poppy is the medical doctor and psychiatrist here." He explained calmly, not in the slightest intimidated by me, probably because if he really wanted too he could get inside my head and psychoanalyse me.

I grunted and wheeled on my heel to walk out the door "How long do you think until I can talk to him?" I asked, wanting to talk to my friend without either of us trying to kill each other.

The Doctors shook their heads at me "No idea _Cipher_. We've only just begun a long process of attempting to help him, we've never had a case like this so it will take time." Dr Poppy replied as she signed a form and handed it off to a nurse.

I sighed in resignation, knowing I was of absolutely no help here. "Take your time Doctors, but I want weekly updates and if a breakthrough happens I wish to know immediately!" I ordered as I left the observation room, I'd already spent too much time here and I had work to do: specifically paying a visit to a Valean soldier whom apparently thought it was a good idea to steal explosives from his Regiment's armoury and sell it to the _Fist_, it wasn't and an extremely pissed off _Cipher_ agent in need of an outlet to vent his anger was this guy's punishment.

**Sunday Night, SNST Dorm. Simon's PoV:**

I stood in front of a mirror, adjusting my bow tie and deciding whether to wear it or just hang myself with it as it keeps trying to do. I'd gotten away with barely ever wearing a tie for normal classes but there was no getting out of it tonight as I wore a full formal tuxedo rather than a more formal version of my school uniform like most of the guys, because I always gotta do my own thing and look fucking fabulous while doing so.

"You nearly done?" I heard Sienna ask nervously behind me, having agreed at the behest of Teal, Nyanza and Solum to be nice to me tonight.

"Just one moment, partner." I replied as I straightened out my tie once more and stepped away, motioning that Sienna could have the mirror.

She looked into it, dipping her head so she could look at the hairless patch where her surgery had taken place, there were still stitches and the scar where there was once an ear. My partner sighed sadly and touched a hand to the battle scar.

"Ignore it Sienna, I'm sure your boyfriend will not care about it whatsoever and I haven't known you to exactly care about the opinions of others." I said as I slid a flask into the internal pocked of my jacket and picked up my scroll.

"True, but this is one night I'd actually want to be pretty." Sienna mused as she adjusted the straps on her cobalt floor length dress and put a flower in her hair to cover the scar, stitches and hairless patch.

I just shook my head, resisting the urge to make any smartarsed comments, I heard a knock at the door. Sienna rushed to answer it, leading me to chuckle slightly at how seriously Sienna was taking tonight.

Sienna glared at me angrily before opening the door to see Solum standing there, in an old time looking suit that was a charcoal black colour, he looked like a fancily dressed cowboy from one of those old western movies, complete with pocket watch and a bouquet for Sienna.

"Have fun you two, try not to be out too late though. I'll be having SNST up early tomorrow for drills before we deploy." I said as Sienna left to get some photos taken.

Now with the dorm to myself I withdrew my scroll and contacted Gregory, he picked up on the 2nd dial.

"_Cipher-9_ here." He answered.

"Gregory. Beacon First Year Missions tomorrow: got any information on what they are?" I asked, wanting every piece of information possible on what we were in for.

I heard Gregory laugh on the other side of the line "Doesn't matter what they are: Only one of them will interest you. Look for anything in Quadrant 4, trust me on that one Si." My friend answered.

"Do I even want to know why you're giving me this specific advice? I better not be getting my team into anything to hot." I said protectively.

"I'm not at liberty to say but you will choose a mission from Quadrant 4. Keeper is calling in a favour that you owe, or did you not think we'd collect on the help we gave you looking for Miss Belladonna." Gregory said firmly, letting me know that I had no choice in the matter.

I sighed "Got it Gregory, I'll see what's available there. Anything else? How's Levi?" I asked, having not had the time to visit him in hospital.

"I saw him, he's made no progress but that is to be expected. We'll just have to wait it out and take our time with this." Gregory replied.

I nodded and grunted in response "Ok Gregory, I better get going. I can't be late to this apparently because we're having photos taken. I thought I'd escaped formal events when I'd left White Castle." I lamented.

"Oh stop whining, you'll be back in the field in like 18 hours or less. So cut back and relax. I wish I could." Gregory berated light heartedly.

"Fair point, Simon out." I said as I cut the connection.

Sighing I made sure I had everything and then walked out the door, not sure what to expect of tonight. I walked out to the courtyard where most of the Beacon students were gathered for photographs. Team RWBY as well as Jaune, Pyrrha and thankfully Edward were conspicuous by their absence.

"Christ Simon, someone would think you're off to a ball at the King's palace." Nyanza said as he saw my flashy outfit.

"I was going for more the gentlemanly spy look though, besides you're just jealous that I look much better than you in a suit." I said cheekily, motioning to the suit that Nyanza was wearing that hung slightly loosely off his lanky frame and didn't fit exactly.

"If I hadn't promised Teal I'd cool my temper tonight I'd challenge you to a duel of fists." Nyanza said grouchily.

"Wow, if I had have known this would be the result, I would have gotten you wrapped around Teal's little finger ages ago." I replied smugly, eliciting laughs from most present, even Sienna and Solum.

"Now, Now. Let's not spoil the night before it's even begun. Couples and dates line up and get ready for photos, then we'll do teams and finally any group of friends that you people want immortalised as photographs." Called out Team SALT's Captain, Solemn who had been kind enough to organise a proper photographer, courtesy of some people who owed her some favours.

We spent the better part of the next hour taking photos and talking and general relaxing, not one word about missions was spoken by anyone. Eventually when photos were finished: I'd ended up being dragged against my will into several with my team, a group shot of all the captains minus Jaune, Ruby and Edward and a few others. People began making their way to the ballroom. I hung around until towards the end, letting the couples go first while I reached into my jacket and withdrew my flask. Taking a long swig of the rum inside to help myself relax a little before I walked inside by myself.

Walking through the doors I saw Yang there to greet me, I was surprised she went for a simple white dress but it still flattered her figure and drew attention to her golden hair. "Evening Yang, you're looking resplendent." I greeted as she ticked me off her list.

"Nice fancy words there Simon, I can tell you spent a lot of time with Weiss." She teased.

"Well then, excuse me while I get some _Weiss_ for that _Burn_." I said, Yang just laughed at my puns.

"Just don't take Xiao Long, you'll miss the party." Yang said as I walked in, laughing at making herself into a pun while I suppressed an annoyed groan at encouraging her to make bad puns.

I saw dozens of people already on the dance floor. I stifled a laugh at Teal in her blue knee length cocktail dress trying to dance with Ny and getting a squashed foot as her reward.

I made my way towards the food table and grabbed myself a mini-cheesecake, may as well enjoy the free food while I can and enjoy the spectacle that is Nyanza trying to dance. I had to stop eating lest I choke while trying to laugh at him.

I finished the cheesecake and looked around to find Sienna, making sure she was ok. I found her out on the dancefloor with Solum, she had a genuine smile on her face as they danced together, Solum not even caring about her missing ear. She had her moments when she was down but I could see a determined glint in her eyes, she was a stubborn fighter who wasn't about to let any human beat her down for too long. But I'd still keep a close eye on her just in case.

I reached for my flask but as I drew it out I found myself being dragged onto the dancefloor by my other hand, the surprise caused me to drop my flask. I looked in horror as none other than General James Ironwood picked it up and pocketed it. _'Oh this is going to make for an awkward conversation'_ I thought as I turned and found myself facing the yellow eyes and peach coloured skin of Flicker, the hummingbird Faunus from Vacuo.

"What's the point of coming to a dance if you don't intend on dancing?" The girl queried, her deep yellow eyes studying me.

"I never fancied myself much of a dancer, was never much good at it. Besides my preferred dance partner is not able to attend tonight" I remarked as I let Flicker lead the dance, trying to not let my mild discomfort and displeasure at this current situation show.

"I've seen you in the combat ring and you have a reputation of fluid, almost physics defying manoeuvres. That can easily be translated into fluid, competent dancing." She replied, making a somewhat valid point.

I just sighed, knowing there was no getting out of this until this song ended. So I let Flicker lead the dance. "Been acclimatising well to Vale?" I asked, deciding to make small talk while we dance, beginning to find a rhythm with the music and Flicker's movements.

"Quite well, your people and culture have made for marvellous study. Though to be frank I do wish you were more like Vacuo with your treatment of Faunus and people from outside the four kingdoms such as _Brimstone_ or _Spearpoint_. Your food and love for swimming is probably my favourite thing. Water was too scarce for water sports or pools in _Brimstone_, so coming to Vale has been my first time ever to swim." The Vacuan said as we moved about the dancefloor, I caught a glimpse of Blake and Yang dancing together, the recently grouchy and more irate than usual Faunus genuinely enjoying herself, which was good considering how much pressure she was putting herself under lately according to Weiss.

"So you're a student of culture? And I got to agree with you there: Swimming is something that I missed greatly during my years in Atlas so I know what you're talking about." I replied

The girl smiled at me "Yes, one of my greatest passions is to know as much as I can about the cultures of the world, which is why I worked really hard to qualify for the Vytal Festival." Flicker replied as the music came to a close and I gave the Faunus a slight bow when the music and thus our dance ended.

I quickly escaped the dancefloor, leaving Flicker in the capable hands of Theo from SALT for the next dance.

"Mr Alexander, I believe you dropped this. I promise that the General has not taken any of it, it isn't his preferred brand." Ozpin said casually as I made it back to the sides to watch the more competent dancers have fun.

"I think this deserves some sort of punishment though Ozpin." I heard James Ironwood say from a pillar.

Ozpin merely laughed "If I remember correctly: A young James Ironwood actually spiked the punch with a flask full of Absinth. Simon had no intention of causing anyone that much trouble did you now?" The enigmatic headmaster asked me jokingly.

"Not at all, for my personal consumption only of course. I'm better behaved than a young James Ironwood." I replied sarcastically, giving Ozpin a casual salute.

Ironwood did not look impressed, but then again I always tended to rub Atlesian aristocrats the wrong way, it was one of my most endearing charms. Ozpin just shook his head lightly and looked out onto the dancefloor "Why don't you go enjoy yourself Simon. It may be a while until we get another occasion such as this." The headmaster ordered politely.

Deciding that ticking off the Atlesian General was not a wise move for tonight I nodded and turned back towards the dancefloor in search of a dance partner or at least someone to talk to, making another stop by the food table along the way. As I tried to slunk off towards the fringes of the party I saw Pyro standing with two other captains: Solemn of SALT and Ocean Storm of ORCD, they seemed deep in discussion, my curiosity got the better of me so I went to inspect what my fellow captains were up to.

"Evening ladies." I greeted, including Pyro in that as a friendly jibe.

Pyro didn't bite at my attempt to rile the Faunus. "Hey Simon, enjoying yourself I hope? Even if Velvet isn't here to join you." Solemn said as she sipped at punch.

"Yeah, if you get lonely we can always leave you with Ocean." Pyro said teasingly.

"Umm, how about no Pyro. Besides I was always much more interested in the women of Vale. No offence boys." Ocean replied snappily, blowing bubble-gum pink hair out of her face.

I rolled my eyes "What were you three discussing so intently over here?" I asked, wanting in on this impromptu Captain's meeting.

"The Tournament actually. Nora's moved up to 2nd as of Friday. And you overtook Weiss to take up 4th spot. So that means JNPR rules the top of the leader board, despite their leader occupying the very bottom spot. Beacon has got a really good chance of winning the tournament this year with our current line-up especially if Pyrrha is in top form." Pyro observed, offering me a high-five for remaining the top ranked male in our cohort which I readily accepted.

"Maybe, the other schools have some top competitors as well. I mean look at the odd redheaded Atlesian over there. I heard she was Atlas' top combatant and was undefeated just like Pyrrha." I said, pointing to a girl in a simple mid-thigh dress being flanked by two Atlesian soldiers.

"Good point, I can't wait to show Vale what we can do. We might be first years but I think a lot of us are as skilled as some of our upperclassmen." Pyro said enthusiastically.

"Try not to get ahead of yourself Pyro, you need to qualify first and you've dropped from 7th to 9th. Get it together hothead." Solemn admonished, always the grounded realist of the 1st year Captains, it made for a good counterweight with Ruby's lofty naivety and idealism in the _Small Unit Tactics_ classes that all 10 captains of the cohort took together as a group.

Pyro ran his hand through his hair "Thanks for thinking my head is hot" He replied sarcastically.

Before Solemn could retort Ocean stood between them, ending the argument before it began "Please you're both as stubborn and insufferable as each other. We're having a conversation about the tournament. You think you got a chance to actually win it?" Ocean asked, switching subject before Pyro got up to anymore mischief.

"Anyone who's in it has a chance to win, but I'm not going to comment on my own chances, might make me sound egotistical and narcissistic." I said light-heartedly, but implying I liked my chances of winning.

"Even against Pyrrha or Nora or that Atlesian girl you pointed out?" Ocean asked, giving me a _Yeah bloody right_ sort of look.

"Hey, I never said it would be easy. I'm under no illusions I'm going to have to work my bloody arse off to even get into the 2nd round." I said, ending my mini tirade with a chuckle.

"Speaking of the leader board. Nice work Ocean on pushing up to 11th, Edward's one loss from Sienna or Ren who are both tied right now taking his spot in the tournament." I said happily.

"Thanks, but I do have to wonder. Edward seems like such an expert leader and combatant, it puzzles me why he's not higher on the list even maybe drawing with you." Ocean pondered.

I shrugged, feigning ignorance. But I knew the answer but unable to say. Trying to master many different fighting styles as Edward does simply makes you a jack of all trades but a master of none. So naturally he'd struggle against opponents who spent years mastering one technique. But Edward like me had secrets to keep and we both knew what the other kept hidden, so it had become an unspoken and begrudging agreement that we don't mention it to anyone.

Seemingly bored of just standing around and talking, Ocean turned to leave "I'm going to go have some more fun on the dancefloor, Solemn would you like my next dance?" The pink girl asked, offering her hand to her fellow captain. Solemn accepted and followed Ocean onto the dancefloor.

Pyro looked at me with an incredulous look "Every guy wishes they could be as smooth with the ladies as she is." The Tiger Faunus said of Ocean with a laugh.

"Ha, I don't. I prefer seeing you guys crash and burn when trying to approach the ladies of Beacon, or any of the other academies." I said motioning to Sky Lark and Dove Bronzewing attempting and failing to flirt with two Atlesian women who just pushed past them, completely ignoring the idiots from CRDL.

"Guess you're right. It always feel weird to see Nyanza have any success with women. Especially ones like Teal, she is way too good for him." Pyro said in a manner that made it obvious he was being sarcastic and was happy for his friend.

"Please don't remind me. I got to live with those two, ironic that when they first met they were probably one snide comment from gutting each other. World works in pretty freaking odd ways." I commented, looking around the dancefloor to see that the rest of my team sitting in rows of seats at the far side of the ballroom, taking a rest from dancing.

"True, if you need a place to crash for the night feel free to crash in PEPR's dorm, just so you don't need the awkwardness to arriving back to SNST's dorm to find Teal and Nyanza up to no good. That might be a bit too traumatic for you." Pyro laughed.

"Thanks, I'll take you up on that I think…. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!" I exclaimed as into the ballroom walked Jaune, in a freaking dress.

"Holy shit, get your scroll! This needs to be documented!" Pyro said as we both reached for our scrolls and recorded Jaune's shameless entrance into the ballroom wearing a dress that looked eerily similar to Yang's.

Everyone was laughing either openly or doing a piss poor job of hiding their sniggering faces but Jaune didn't seem to have any fucks to give about what they thought.

"Man I'm way too sober for this!" Pyro said as he took several more photos, his face red as a tomato.

"Here, take a swig." I said withdrawing my flask and offering it to my fellow Captain.

Pyro accepted the flask and took a long scull, draining maybe a third of it. "Ahh, thanks I needed that. That's going to haunt me."

"You're an asshole. Remind me to never give you anything again." I said as I took back the now much emptier flask and downed the rest of it myself so no one else could steal it.

"Well I've seen giant Grimm that have tried to take my head off but this is more disconcerting." Pyro said as both of us were moments later nearly knocked over by Nora who was dragging Ren out onto the dancefloor.

"Dust she has a lot of force behind her for someone so small." I said as I dragged myself off the floor.

"You got that right. Well would you look at that. JNPR's got some moves." Pyro said, pointing out their dancing.

"Too bad Jaune can't be as good of a fighter as he is a dancer." I commented as I decided to walk out into the dancefloor and find someone to dance with, just going with the flow seeing as everyone was jumping out onto the dancefloor, I quickly found myself dancing with Solemn, and Pyro had paired up with Yang. Looking around I saw Weiss dancing with Neptune, well failing to dance as Neptune stumbled repeatedly. The smug little bastard thinks he can woo Weiss, or more to the point looked as though she has wooed her. As the dancing continued Neptune's eyes locked with me and I death stared right into the blue-haired playboy's soul and struck the fear of the Shadows into him. He gulped and quickly looked away, my warning crystal clear to him.

The rest of the night went smoothly, dancing and food and socialising and Pyro and I both slightly tipsy from the Overproof rum in my flask and the strong and unmixed Mistralan Rum went straight to my head so the rest of the night was somewhat of a blur. I eventually crashed out in the PEPR dorm about 1am, an hour after the party officially ended.

**Sunday Night, CCTS Repeater Station. Velvet's PoV:**

The night was ablaze with fires, The Grimm had become so thick that the decision had been reluctantly made to drop incendiary bombs and NAPALM on the drought ridden now flattened forest, the natural kindling of dead wood and foliage acting to spread the flames quickly, the dying howls of Beowolves being incinerated in their hundreds was a sound I'd never forget, nor would the sounds of cheering and joyful crying from the bloodied, exhausted and grimy soldiers who we had worked with for the last week that knew victory had been secured.

Our part in this small piece of the eternal war between sentient beings and the Grimm was over, but the price had been heavy: out of the 108 soldiers that had originally accompanied us half had become casualties 40 of which were dead. All for a small repeater station in the middle of nowhere, I'd never voice it but so much blood, so many shattered families for this just didn't seem worth it to me. Several bullheads were just flying out with the wounded having arrived full of replacement soldiers who would stay on to defend the small outpost and protect the new crew of Signallers and engineers who would maintain the beacon and the automated defences. I began to cough a little as the acrid smoke from the fires burning only a few dozen metres away across the natural firebreak of the wide riverbed.

I saw two soldiers walking over to where my team and I were sitting, going over everything we'd seen and making sure we were handling it ok. "We thought you all looked a little ragged so we brought you some Tea." One of the soldiers said handing us each a tin full of freshly brewed tea. "Sorry but we're all out of milk right now. Also the CO wanted us to tell you that next bullhead out is yours." The other explained.

"That's fine, I thank you for this and it was an honour to fight beside you all." Yatsuhashi said formally. He was always formal when being given a gift or a meal.

We all nodded in agreement and took the drinks offered and drank them, I immediately noticed something odd about my drink and then Coco started laughing. "They put rum into this, good on them… I really needed this." My captain then sculled the rest of her drink. I on the other hand just took small sips, letting the drink warm me up and relax my muscles and mind. We sat and talked for another hour until we heard the familiar whine of the Bullhead engines. As I saw them appear through the smoky haze I felt relief, I'd finally be going back to Beacon, back to Simon and leaving this nightmare behind.

**Monday Morning, Week 4. Beacon Auditorium, Simon's PoV:**

I stood in full combat gear with my team, all the first years from all four academies were assembled ready and eager for their missions. Relaxed and refreshed from the evening before, even Blake looked somewhat human at this point.

I turned to Teal and Nyanza "Hope you two enjoyed having the dorm to yourselves, just try not to get pregnant Ny, or you'll have so many people wanting to kill you it aint even funny." I joked in a semi-serious fashion.

"Go fuck yourself Simon." Was all that Nyanza could say before Ozpin took centre stage.

Ozpin gazed upon us all and began talking "Today we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression.

A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something many could not stand for.

As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: colour. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united.

But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best"

With that Ozpin stepped back and chatter intensified among the dozens of people present.

Teal turned to me, a slightly perplexed look on her face. "Simon, I've been meaning to ask: Why aren't you named after a colour?"

I shrugged "My ancestors didn't fight in the rebellion. They like the majority of the people and Faunus on Remnant fought on the losing side. Most people who fought on the side of tyranny followed the colour convention to hide the fact their family had been on the wrong side of history. Many though chose to keep their original names either as a mark of pride for fighting for a cause they thought was right or as a mark of shame." I explained, remembering the story told by my father dozens of times over when I was young.

"And which reason was it for your family?" Sienna asked suspiciously as we walked towards the mission boards.

"Both, depending on which family member you asked. Both my paternal Great-Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandfather were combat soldiers in the Great War. After the war finished by Great-Great-Grandpa became bitter, xenophobic and his war medals took pride of place in his household and he regaled stories of what he'd done in the war. My Great-Grandfather on the other hand was ashamed at what he had partaken in and how much destruction he caused. He destroyed his uniforms, medals and commendations before training to become a doctor to help people and do some good after having done so much wrong. And that became my paternal families tradition, they kept our non-colour name as a reminder of what happens when Alexanders go to war and became doctors or paramedics or nurses and swore to never pick up a weapon unless in defence of themselves or others. Well at least until I came along that is, guess I proved that legacy correct at least until I went into SDC service." I explained as I got to a mission board and immediately saw the mission Gregory had instructed me to take _'Missing Supplies: Quadrant 4'_

"Let's take this one. It takes us out of the kingdom, should be pretty interesting experience for you all." I said as I typed in SNST into the computer, not giving my team a chance to protest. It was accepted and I heard my scroll beep with instructions for us to follow to meet the hunter we were following. Looking at it I nodded and faced my team "Ok ladies, we're to report in 30 minutes to the landing pads to board a Bullhead to meet up with our assigned hunter. So take that time to check equipment and get a light meal. And relax, we'll have a fully trained hunter with us to help out." I said, dismissing my team to give them their last bit of free-time before we deployed.

I made my way outside towards the landing pads, I saw a VDF marked Bullhead, complete with door gunners and side mounted rocket pods. In it I saw Team CFVY looking very tired but surprisingly fresh, probably stopped over somewhere on their way back to shower and clean up or get some sleep. I ducked in behind a pillar, deciding to try and sneak up on Velvet. I saw them disembark and have a small chat with RWBY by the landing pads before walking up towards the main buildings of Beacon, I could barely contain my feelings of happiness and absolute relief that they were ok.

I circled the pillar as they went past, noting Velvet was at the rear of the column they walked in I sprinted, giggling like a giddy child as I got up behind Velvet and wrapped my arms around her waist and picked her up and doing a full 360 spin in one fluid motion. "You're Back! I've missed you." I exclaimed happily as I put Velvet down who turned around and looked genuinely surprised and a little shocked to see me, especially in armour.

"I missed you too Simon" Velvet said happily, a big, toothy smile beaming from her.

"Oh shut up you two and just kiss already." Coco teased.

Both Velvet and I just ignored Coco's teasing but took her advice as I pulled Velvet in for a kiss, one of my arms around her waist and the other rubbing her rabbit ears. The kiss was deep and full of passion and love, both of us showing just how much we'd missed the other. We both ignored the whistling and commotion that Coco was making as we held the kiss for well over a minute. When we did break it off Velvet pulled me in close and buried her head in my shoulder, she was shaking slightly and I squeezed her tightly enough that she gave a little squeak. "It's ok, whatever happened out there… it's over now and you're back at Beacon where it's safe." I cooed softly as I ran a hand through her hair, now slightly worried about how their mission had affected her but I didn't have the time to find out all the details.

"I know, but now you're going on a mission and I know you: You'd have chosen something dangerous, even with a professional hunter with you, you'd still find a way into the thick of it." Velvet said.

'_Oh she'd be pissed if she knew just how accurate that assumption is.'_ I thought as I moved my head and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry Velvet, couldn't be more dangerous than whatever kept you away for a week longer than scheduled." I said as I finally took a step back, but my hand still clasped in Velvet's.

Velvet looked at me, she didn't entirely believe me I could tell. "Ok, if you truly say so." She said unconvinced.

I just smiled at her then turned to her team "Coco, how through all of this did you manage to keep those glasses intact!?"

"Because I'm just _THAT_ good Simon." Coco said in her usually sassy tone.

"Riiiiight! I totally believe you Coco." I said with a laugh.

"So what are you doing as your mission? Couldn't be as bad as Velvet thinks." Fox asked, looking at me with his eerie white eyes.

"We're headed to Quadrant 4, Search and Rescue for a missing supply convoy." I replied, hopefully it would only be that and Keeper wasn't sending my team into as much danger as I thought he was.

CFVY looked at me then each other and Velvet sighed in relief. "Ok, that doesn't sound too dangerous in all honesty. But it does sound urgent, I guess you're leaving immediately then?" Velvet asked, her ears drooping a little.

"Unfortunately yes, as soon as the bullhead arrives SNST has to leave. But I promise when I get back first thing I'm doing is coming to see you." I said reassuringly.

"You better Simon or she'll never forgive you." Coco said cheekily.

I sighed "Coco are you sure your name isn't actually Nyanza? Cause you and him are pretty damned similar." I replied exasperatedly.

"Hey! I have much better fashion sense thank-you." She said, looking at me over the rim of her sunnies.

Looking past CFVY I could see the rest of SNST heading towards us, I knew my time was now short.

CFVY turned to meet my team and I could almost feel Velvet's remorse at seeing Sienna's injury. But Sienna didn't hide it today unlike at the dance, she wore it as a mark of honour.

"Simon, we got under 5 minutes until we have to leave." Teal said, readjusting her backpack.

I sighed and nodded, turning to Velvet and pulled her into another hug "I'll see you when I get back. I'll try to send you messages when I get the time. Just so you know I'm ok." I said smiling before moving up to her ear "Love you." I whispered simply before pulling away. Sighing at how short lived this reunion was I turned to my team "Ok, let's go? Those supplies won't find themselves team." I ordered as I waved goodbye to Velvet and her team. We waked down to the landing pads were multitudes of Bullheads were coming and going taking teams off to wherever they needed to be for their missions.

I headed to the landing pad that had been specified for us to wait at, within a couple minutes a bullhead arrived with markings attributing it to the VPD's specialist Search and Rescue Command. "Ok Team, that's our ride. Let's go be rescuers." I said as the door opened and we jumped aboard. On board I saw about half a dozen police rescue officers and two others all in white overalls with reflective strips along the sides of the chest and sleeves with "POLICE RESUCE" in blue block letters on the back and over the heart. Apart from the 6 genuine police officers I recognised Gregory who was posing as a police officer again and a Huntress, a bloodhound Faunus by the looks of it who had a bow and quiver strapped across her back. It took a lot of effort not to acknowledge Gregory who leaned in the back corner grabbing onto a handhold.

"Good morning Team SuNSeT, I'm Inspector Petunia, the VPD's foremost expert in Search and Rescue or tracking people who are lost or criminals hiding in the forests surrounding Vale. As you've no doubt have worked out a supply convoy taking much needed resources out to Vale's colonies and settlements and bringing back food to feed the city has gone missing. You're going to learn how to use your skills to help not only clear out Grimm but how to track people and objects through the wilderness, so be perceptive and pay attention and be ready to work hard because we'll be camping out doors from tomorrow night onwards. Tonight however we'll be put up at _Fort Amada_ so I can organise the support we're being given by the military in the hunt and recovery efforts. Now any questions?" Inspector Petunia instructed as the aircraft took off with a slight jolt.

We looked to each other and I spoke up "Any leads so far? Was it Grimm?" I asked, trying to work out why Gregory was here and not liking my suspicions and hoping they were wrong.

"We can be certain it isn't Grimm because the convoy is missing not simply destroyed and the crew slaughtered. My leads point to the _Black Fist_ hence why the military is being called in, we've narrowed where they've taken the stolen supplies and any hostages they may have taken to an area about of about 1000 square miles of dense forest." Petunia replied.

I nodded, not wanting to say anything that would hurt Gregory's cover. The rest of my team shifted around awkwardly, weary of going into a fully-fledged battle again. I looked to them "If this is the _Fist _and if _Ghost_ is there we're to fight him as a team." I said, fiercely protective of my team, especially my partner.

They all nodded, from then the flight went mostly silently, me occasionally flicking glances to Gregory when no one was watching me. He just paid me no mind, probably secretly enjoying seeing me agonising about what we were getting into. The Bullhead flew East of Vale deep into Quadrant 4, we landed at a small clearing which was blocked off by police tape and there was evidence of a serious firefight.

"This is where we lost track of the supplies, we've marked out different things we used to track movements." Petunia explained as we spent some time looking at the work they'd done to work out which way the _Black Fist_ soldiers had carried the supplies, they had driven the vehicles a different way to try and throw off the VPD but Petunia had explained that she and her keen nose or tracking skills weren't fooled.

We then boarded the Bullhead back to go to another site, this one much grizzlier, a grave for the dead _Fist _soldiers as well as some of the missing drivers in the convoy that had succumb to their wounds, it became obvious now that our mission was much less about the search than the rescue and this was just an introductory course into tracking and what to look for when searching for people in the wilderness of Vale. I think my team realised this as well, I looked to Gregory, searching his emotionless and passive face for any clue but finding none.

Eventually as the sun set we headed to the massive military base that was _Fort Amada_ currently home to over 30,000 soldiers from the VDF's army and another 20,000 from the Valean Air Fleet. We landed and were escorted to a set of barracks set aside for soldiers who are only at the fort temporarily on short assignments or layovers. An orderly directed my team and the SaR police to their rooms but I stayed behind ostensibly to discuss with Petunia about the day's events and how my team would be employed tomorrow but instead I found myself in a room with her and Gregory.

"Ok, Inspector. I'm going to assume you know who my friend here really is and you're in on whatever scheme that Keeper has in store for SNST" I asked, my eyes burning right through her.

She merely nodded and ran her hand through her short auburn hair "Yes, I do know but Ozpin doesn't hence _Cipher-9's_ disguise and the need to bring an actual SaR team with me. He'd be most displeased to know that Keeper was commandeering more students than yourself." Inspector Petunia explained.

"Forget about Ozpin, I'm pissed. I don't mind at all about me joining VI ops, I volunteered for that. But I draw the line at putting my friends and teammates into the line of fire for Keeper." I said fiercely.

Gregory laughed "I know, but unfortunately you don't have that option. We need every trained hunter we can get to take on the _Ghost_ as well as Lachlan's elite guards."

I sighed, knowing he was right, he always fucking was. "Ok, so what is the plan? And the real plan, not the fake one you're going to give to my team. And why is _VI _involved in this anyway?" I asked curiously.

Gregory nodded, he knew he owed me that much. "The convoy that was ambushed included a _Minder _agent who was going to meet some contacts in the colonies. He's still alive and has a homing beacon that will lead our attack force right to the _Black Fist_ base. We're assuming it's a major if not their main compound so we're going in hard. A full flight of 4 Warhead gunships and a company of Valean commandos as well as our old friends in _Alpha _team, SNST, myself and Inspector Petunia. Her SaR team will come in later to recover the supplies and handle any prisoners or fighters who flee into the woods." Gregory explained.

"Oh yeah, Ozpin is going to be severely pissed he wasn't consulted or even informed of this." I said, stating the blatantly obvious.

"Yeah, but he won't be able to complain with the results if it goes well: The _Black Fist_ all but dismantled and utterly decapitated. It will make Vale that much safer and he can't get mad that we may have bent the rules about using students in military ops. Besides Hunters are meant to serve the kingdom in any capacity at any time." Petunia said confidently.

"Fine, But I'm doing this under protest. My team shouldn't be here." I complained.

"Noted and ignored." Petunia said, dismissing me.

I trudged out and headed to the cafeteria for some food, then some sleep.

**Tuesday Morning, Week 4. Caves under Forest Glen. Cipher-1's PoV:**

I could hear the explosions from another part of the tunnel systems and the sound of the train beginning to start up as _white Fang_ troopers ran to jump on, me on the other hand decided that I'd had enough time in deep cover and Keeper had to be warned about what was coming, about what the _White Fang_ planned to do to the city.

I found a secluded part of the base and took out a specialised communicator that could get a signal out even down here. I sent out an emergency signal directly to Keeper, getting an almost immediate answer.

"Cipher-1, what's the emergency?" The Keeper asked calmly, though his mind was now working at a million miles a minute thinking of every possible course of action from what I was about to tell him.

"The _Fang_ have access to the underground rail network from here to Vale, unsure which line but they all lead into the vital hubs of the city. You need to execute protocol Zero immediately!" I whispered quickly.

The Keeper took a moment to process this. "Ok, I think it's time you left there and came in from the cold." He ordered.

From behind me I heard a laugh. "Well, Well. Roman's personal cook is a rat. I shoulda known considering you're a rat Faunus." I heard the distorted but obviously amused voice of the chief enforcer of the _Fang_: Fidelis, a dingo Faunus with a lack of fucks to give and knew a thousand different ways to mangle someone.

"Does it surprise you to know that the most senior _Cipher_ agent in all of Vale is a Faunus, Fidelis? I'm the example of what our kind can be if we stopped fighting and rebelling! If we obeyed the laws we'd gain positions of power and responsibility, the _White Fang_ has long since outlived its purpose and usefulness!" I said defiantly, knowing they were probably my last words.

"Nice speech, now will you die on your feet or on your knees?" Fidelis asked, I could tell he was smiling through that emotionless mask he wore, the thought of fighting the legendary _Cipher-1_.

I drew my weapon: a large butcher's knife that I'd kept as a weapon hidden in plain sight. This blade was imbued with aura penetrating dust so even though Fidelis had an almost limitless aura it would do him no good. "Your move Fidelis!" I said as I twirled my knife.

Fidelis charged, swinging his large Gunbai, I ducked easily under it and sprung up at him, my knife impaling deep into is right leg, but I was disappointed as I'd managed to miss the femoral artery. I twisted the knife and withdrew it quickly, rolling away and striking at his back before he could recover from the first strike with his war fan or bring his clawed gauntlet to bear. "Now is that all you've got, I've seen Perry do better than that!" I taunted as I rolled away, keeping a distance between myself and his war fan.

Fidelis was now incensed and launched his Gunbai at me, I rolled out of the way but was hit by a heavy blast of wind that smashed me through several crates of dust and into the rock wall of the cave. I was dazed but still on my feet and with my weapon. Fidelis charged me with his clawed gauntlet with such ferocity and speed I barely dodged but I did by mere inches and jabbed at him again with my knife, catching him just above his hip, leaving a bloodied gash.

"I hope you know your death will not be painless." Fidelis snarled, not used to being so easily wounded.

I heard the sounds of the train leaving "Seems you've missed your train. I've done my job and that little pink bitch you love so dearly as well as your comrades will die by their hundreds today at the hands of my fellow agents and the other defenders of Vale. I go to whatever fate Agese has for me with a smile on my face." I replied, taking an aggressive stance, twirling my knife and taunting the easily goaded Fidelis. It was his one weakness, too reckless against a methodical opponent such as myself I could have run away and been evacuated but I preferred to go out this way.

Fidelis charged at me and I readied myself to dodge and strike an animalistic shriek emanating from his throat as he launched his gunbai as hard as he could at me, it moved quicker than I anticipated and it scored a glancing blow on me as I rolled away. The blow of the nearly 100 pound weapon knocked me off my feet and forced all air out of my lungs, my aura plummeting. Moments later Fidelis was upon me slashing down with his claws at my throat. I kicked up into his groin and used the moment he was distracted by the pain to thrust my knife up at his throat but it never connected. Fidelis' other hand had grabbed onto my knife hand and jerked it so hard that both bones in my lower arm snapped into compound fractures. I howled in pain as Fidelis pushed my now ruined arm at angles an arm should not go to push my knife back down at my own heart.

I went for my last resort and I smiled devilishly as my not broken arm tapped at a small controller at my hip. I knew my life was now over but I was taking this bastard with me. My hand tapped the control and immediately the 10 pounds of explosives I was wearing detonated.

**3****rd**** Person PoV:**

The shaped charges exploded outwards towards Fidelis who funnelled as much of his aura to defend against the blast, it blew him dozens of metres into the air and ignited the spilt dust they were fighting amongst, only magnifying the explosion that rocked the cavern and began a collapse. Fidelis was barely conscious when he landed right near an emergency exit ladder, he would crawl despite all the pain and internal injuries to the surface, his mask shattered in the explosion and his skin burnt, he'd carry the scars of this fight forever and he'd never fully recover but he'd at least survived meeting Keeper's top agent.

**Office of the Keeper, Keeper's PoV:**

I looked down at my desk deep in thought, _Cipher-1_ hadn't cut the connection so I heard the fight and the explosion that ended his life. I had a slight moment of pause for a man I considered a friend and a shining example of what law-abiding Faunus could accomplish. _Cipher-1_ had been an agent for 20 years, the very first Faunus _Cipher_ who climbed the ranks despite adversity. And now came time to avenge his death with interest.

I picked up a phone and dialled the office of the VDF's Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Alba.

"Field Marshal. I've got some bad news, one of my agents has given me warning of a massive impending attack on Vale by the _White Fang_. I'm not sure of the details but he said it is a _Protocol Zero_ incident." I said simply, making sure the gravity of what I was saying wasn't lost through fancy words.

"Keeper, _Protocol Zero_ is an absolute last resort if Grimm breach the city and that hasn't happened in decades. I can't just give my men orders to level entre city blocks with civilians still in them on a whim of one of your agents." The veteran soldier replied, he was right, but I trusted my agent's appraisal of the situation.

I said nothing, I wasn't taking no for an answer and Alba knew it. I heard the Field Marshal sigh "I'll begin mobilising all available forces towards Vale, at least if something does happen we're already on the move and if nothing happens then I can just call it an exercise." But you better be right. This mobilisation is going to take a big chunk of my budget.

"If money is what you need, _VI_ can arrange it." I said, not taking a lack of Lien as a reason for the Kingdom of Vale to fall, I cut the call and summoned my _Watchers_, today I'd cleanse Vale of the cancer that is the _Fang_.

**30 Minutes Later, Shaun and Kale's Apartment in Vytal Square. 3****rd**** Person PoV:**

"I swear, today I'm going to walk all the way to the range lugging this thing even if it kills me." Kale grumbled as he and Shaun continued loading rounds for their sniper rifles, a full day of range training on planned to continue Kale's rehabilitation.

"Don't overdo it buddy, you're too big for me to carry." The lanky Shaun remarked as he finished loading his 20th magazine of 7.62x51mm rounds while Kale worked on loading the 10th magazine of 12.7x99mm rounds for his much larger rifle.

The wounded sniper had mostly healed by this point but was still very unfit due to so much time being bed ridden and still walked with a severe limp. Kale shrugged and continued loading the massive anti-materiel rounds into the magazine and putting them into a satchel he was going to take to the range and blast all the stress away. "Yeah, yeah, I'll take it slowly. But I haven't hit the range in days and the slow progress at rehab is just driving me insane." Kale said as he stood up and stretched, beginning to limber up for the mile long walk out to the range.

"I think we need to get Simon to the range again, see if I can repeat that shot again." Shauno said with a hearty chuckle.

Before Kale could reply a massive bang echoed throughout the square outside and the apartment. "What the fuck!" Kale exclaimed as he heaved himself up to look out the window and saw something he'd never forget: Beowolves and Creeps flooding into Vale from what looked like a crater at the edge of the square, which was packed with thousands of people attending markets and festivities for the Vytal Festival.

"Shauno, we gotta get to the roof now!" Kale said as he shouldered his satchel full of heavy magazines of Armour Piercing rounds and hefted his heavy sniper rifle and began limping as quickly as he could up towards the roof of their apartment building.

"What, why? What's going on?!" Shauno asked as he peered out the window to see what had spurred Kale into action, even though he looked in pain to move so quickly. "Holy mother of fuck! I'm coming bro!" Shauno said as he picked up his rifle and ammo satchel and began running up the stairs helping Kale as much as he could.

The two snipers would be the first responders and defenders of Vale when for the first time in over two decades the Grimm breached Vale's walls. To Vale's South at _Fort Amada_ thousands of soldiers, with hundreds of combat aircraft and armoured Vehicle would begin the 50km dash to Vale, to Vale's West, the 6000 Marines based on Patch would board their amphibious assault craft and began the trek across the bay to secure Vale's vital dockyards and seaborne infrastructure and to Vale's north at Vale's naval dockyards two Grimm-Class Cruisers and their destroyer escorts slipped their moorings and began to sail south to provide a naval gun line to support forces on the ground with 5 &amp; 8 inch guns as well as cruise missiles. And From all across Vale and Beacon Huntsmen and Huntresses converged upon the city to defend Vale from the claws of the Grimm and Once More Unto the Breach they charged.

**A/N: **Yes I know this chapter doesn't cover the entirety of the breach but there was just too much plot to go through this chapter to put it all as one chapter especially given this one in of itself is 50 pages long haha and the next chapter will be nearly as long again. I do apologise and will be using the current lull in assignments to work hard on getting the action of the Breach, which is mostly done anyway so be ready for it within the next 1-2 weeks.

I'd like to send a big shout out to **The Baz** for letting me use his OC Fidelis from _The White Mask_ as a Cameo appearance, hope he performed to your standards.

Only one new OC to introduce and that is **Ocean Storm **by **Kymeara **who appears in their story _Team ORCD: Volume 1_. As I promised every submitted OC will see combat in the Breach.

As always let me know what you think in the review or feel free to PM me –CC Signing off.


	58. Protocol Zero Part 1

**A/N: ** Hi all, I'm back from the dead. I know it's been so very long since I uploaded and this is only a part of what I got outlined for the _Breach_, but I been taking a long, much needed break from RWBY and FHTH and I'm now back and writing more and I wanted to upload something today to mark 2 full years to the day since I published this story, man how time flies aye?

Also, updates will no longer follow a schedule and I'll write when I can so sometimes you'll get weekly uploads and others it could be a while but each update will be 10k words minimum most of the time. but I want to reassure you all I'm in NO WAY AT ALL putting this story on Hiatus or leaving it dead in the water, I will be seeing this story through to completion regardless of how long it takes to get it done because I love writing this story and building my AU and the characters within it and bringing Simon, Gregory, the snipers and everyone else to life.

Best Comment from last chapter Goes to **Lord Rage Quit** with this one in a PM about Keeper "He's not very nice" Yes, I do realise this haha.

**Chapter 57: PROTOCOL ZERO part 1. Valean Airspace, Simon's PoV:**

I stood on a bullhead flying in a formation of 2 Warheads and three Bullheads about 5 miles East of Vale as we headed to the wilderness about 200 miles from the city where the _Fist Camp_ was located according to the homing beacon, we were the first wave of the assault force. My team looked at me as they held on, looking nervous that they'd been thrown into this, I couldn't blame them, the fact they were sharing the Bullhead with _Alpha Team_ of the _Head Hunters_ as well as _Cipher-9_ who was now in his _VI_ combat gear, but it was assumed by my team he was just another _Head Hunter_. The other Bullheads were full of the first wave of Valean Recon Commandos as well as Inspector Petunia.

I felt eager, if the intelligence from Petunia and _Cipher-9 _was correct then I'd finally be able to kill _Ghost_ and Lachlan, I was very much looking forward to running them both through with _Umbra Vigilans_, I had my facemask on so no one could see the smile of sadistic glee on my face. "Simon, do you really need the mask? It really is unsettling, makes you look like one of these _Head Hunters_. No offence to any of you." Teal said, shifting awkwardly as the 5 soldiers in laughing skull masks stared at her, only intensifying her awkwardness. At least until of course _Alpha-5_, their loudmouthed sniper spoke up "Don't worry…. Your friend here isn't that scary, we've seen him clinging for life so no one seems scary after you've seen them like that." The young sharpshooter said, laughing under his mask and completely breaking the intimidating aura the soldiers gave off.

With this all the 5 members of _Alpha_ broke their silent and gritty facades and the first thing Peach did was hit Auburn, aka _Alpha-5_ over the head "Way to spoil the carefully built reputation of the _Head Hunters_ you fuck-knuckle." The medic said as she went to begin rechecking all of her medical and combat equipment.

I saw Ny looking out one of the viewports, laughing lightly "My brother's out there, I can see his nose art on the Warhead out there." He said, waving out the viewport.

"Oh that's going to be fun at the next Torres family dinner _'Oh yeah Copper, I'm working with Vale's Head Hunters and you supplied CAS, aren't you proud?'_" I laughed, the tension now fully broken though Teal still didn't like the laughing skull masks staring her down, those soldiers certainly had intimidation down to a fine art. There was a buzz of energy from all of us but especially _Cipher-9 _and I: Lachlan would pay most dearly today and _Ghost_ would die.

It was then that the Bullhead lurched sharply, doing a near 180 degree turn "What the fuck!" _Cipher-_9 said as he peeked into the cockpit.

"Sorry sir, message coming through straight from Field Marshal Alba. It's ordering all forces to Vale. PROTOCOL ZERO is now in effect." The pilot replied, still turning the aircraft back towards Vale, his voice calm and cold.

"What? But what about _Ghost_ and getting the hostages and supplies back? We can't just let the _Fist_ get away with this?!" I exclaimed, smacking my fist on the bulkhead.

"I don't like it any more than you do, but orders are orders and unfortunately they're on their own. May their souls rest in peace." The pilot replied as he set a course for vale as did the rest of our formation.

I went to speak up again to protest about how lives were at stake with our current mission but I was cut off by Sienna.

"PROTOCOL ZERO?" Sienna asked, my team looking to me and then to _Cipher-9_. I looked to him as well, not having any idea what was going on.

"PROTOCOL ZERO is basically the most desperate measure for the most desperate times. When Grimm have breached the city and are uncontained, all available military and Huntsmen are immediately called upon to drop whatever mission they are currently assigned to and defend Vale. It also puts the survival of the Kingdom as a whole above individual people's survival or wellbeing. The VDF is required to do everything in its power to prevent the infestation from spreading, regardless of civilian casualties. So that includes flattening city blocks with civilians still inside if it means stopping a Grimm attack, there are no holds barred at all. Some must die so that many may live, that's the thinking behind PROTOCOL ZERO" _Cipher-9_ explained.

"That sounds horrible." Sienna noted, her voice full of fear and sorrow knowing that so many were going to die today.

"Pilot, where is the epicentre of the breach?" _Alpha-1_ asked, his team now slightly uneasy about being equipped for fighting the _Fist_ and now were headed to fight the Grimm.

"No idea sir, there is too much chatter going on to get a precise location but the Vytal Square and Royal Valean Children's Hospital are being mentioned most." The pilot answered.

"WHAT? My family lives only 2 miles from Vytal Square!" Nyanza exclaimed fearfully, grabbing his scroll to call home. Teal clasped his shoulder and I felt my scroll buzz, it was Shauno. I knew they lived in Vytal Square themselves.

"You two better not be dying! What's going on?!" I practically yelled at Shauno.

"All kinds of fucked up! We got _White Fang_ and Grimm pouring into the square, Kale and I are on the roof of our apartment building in the south-east corner of the Square we got our sniper rifles and a few hundred rounds of ammo between us." I heard the lanky sniper respond.

There was a massive bang emanating from right near Shauno. "That's 17 Grimm down, loading!" I heard Kale say as I heard an empty magazine fall onto the ground.

"I got you covered mate!" I heard Shauno say and several shots in rapid succession followed through the scroll, everyone was now listening to this, even Nyanza.

Then came another big boom and I knew Kale was back in the fight. "Sorry about that, things are pretty crazy here right now. Just get your useless and late arse down here and join the party, because neither of us have the firepower to deal with the Deathstalkers and King Taijitu coming out of this hole in the ground!" Shauno said as he cut the call.

I looked around and then towards the cockpit "Looks like we got our destination. And this is going to be a very hot insertion. Pilot, an ETA on arriving at Vytal Square?" I yelled up to the pilots.

"Maybe 5 minutes with the engines at full afterburner, be prepared for a hot insertion though. We'll do s strafing run through first then put you down." The pilot replied.

I sighed, it was time for my team to do what hunters are actually trained for: slaughtering Grimm, except this time they'd have the added pressure of trying to protect civilians at the same time. I just hoped they'd handle it.

"There's a news chopper above Vytal Square, I'm tapping into its feed, give us a look of what is going on." _Cipher-9_ said as he projected a display from his wrist mounted scroll onto the bulkhead of the bullhead.

"There's Kale and Shaun." I said pointing to the top of a building with two heavily armed men on top sniping down onto the streets pouring fire into the Grimm filled streets.

I looked at the rest of Vytal Square, and saw hundreds of people lying dead or dying and the gutters ran red like roses with human and Faunus blood. I clenched my fists until my knuckles went white, I forgot about Lachlan, about _Ghost_ about the hostages and supplies…. I realised looking at this why PROTOCOL ZERO existed, why the _Fist _would have to wait until another day.

"Look, is that Team RWBY?" Sienna said pushing through and pointing to the far end of the square from the snipers, where the wreck of a train that had crashed through several buildings. We all saw four young girls covered in dirt and grime. I immediately recognised Ruby and Blake fighting among the rubble of what was once a shop while Yang was inside, guarding Weiss who was on the ground, her white dress stained red.

"Weiss!" I half-yelled, seeing her laying on the ground slick with her own blood, looking like it was a vicious slash to her right side. I was behind pissed right now, my charge and friend was lying possibly dying on the ground and I wasn't there to protect her, I'd failed her and I'd fight just that much harder. I turned to my team "Ready your weapons, we hit the ground firing. Teal, you escort _Alpha-3_ to Weiss, use your whip to create barriers to delay the Grimm and protect the medic. Nyanza you assist Ruby and Sienna you assist Blake. _Alpha-5_, you mind having a sniping contest with Kale and Shaun? Because you're being inserted on the rooftop with them, you got the same type of Rifle as Kale so you can share ammo." I commanded, giving my team and by extension everyone their orders.

The _Head Hunters_ looked to their commanding officer and to _Cipher-9_ who both nodded in agreement with me. _Alpha-1_ bowed his head in a short, silent prayer as he was a very religious man while _Cipher-9_ looked to me, he held up a vertically held fist "Looks like we're right in amongst it again Simon, we haven't faced Grimm together since our trial of death or life." He said as I met his fist with mine and then he readied his gauntlets and drew his daggers while I withdrew _Umbra Vigilans_ and set it to its gun mode, raking the bolt now with 125 flechettes on tap. I knew my team had seen and heard that but _Cipher-9_ seemed to not even care.

"SIXTY SECONDS! DOORS OPENING!" The Co-pilot yelled and the doors of the Bullhead retracted and we could see and hear a city in chaos. We were still nearly a kilometre from the square itself but already the door gunners were firing at streets now black with Grimm who were ripping to shreds anyone in their path, I hoped their efforts would at least save some people.

The wind whistled in the passenger area. I latched on the handhold and looked out the windows to see the Warheads launching rockets and firing their massive rotary cannons, shredding the Grimm in the middle of the square. I jolted as the Bullhead dipped its nose and began firing its forward facing machine guns and the door gunners did the same with their weapons. As we got to the far end of the square the Bullhead pulled up and pulled hard left, I felt my stomach lurch as the g forces hit me. We came to a stop above Kale and Shauno and out jumped _Alpha-5_, his sniper rifle already ready for immediate firing.

I saw the warheads and the other two bullheads loaded with commandos complete their strafing runs and then turn away and head off to other parts of the city where there were still civilians to be saved and evacuated. With _Alpha-5_ deployed on overwatch the Bullhead swopped down, door gunners raining lead onto the horde of Grimm still streaming into the city, most ignored Team RWBY and continued running down the many streets that led into the square, adding to the flood of Grimm spreading out in every direction deeper into the city. The Bullhead came to a stop about 6 feet off the ground and 30 feet from the ruins of a clothing store that RWBY was currently hunkered down in. My team jumped out the left side and _Alpha _team with _Cipher-9_ out of the right side. I immediately opened fire with _Umbra Vigilans_, ignoring the fact my right combat boot had landed on a young women, a dead baby girl, no older than two, the wedding band prominent on the woman's ring finger.

I took aim at a very young Beowolf that had taken an interest in the new meals that had just been dropped before it. The thing howled in pain as the kinetic darts punched right through its barely formed bony plates and into its flesh, it was finished off by a slug fired from Sienna's weapon as she knelt beside Blake, both Faunus girls firing their weapons, trying to take down as many Grimm as they could before they were able to move into other parts of the city. Nyanza had quickly found himself at Ruby's side and handled any Grimm that got too close to her while _Crescent Rose_ was in its sniper rifle mode with his pistols or flinging around his tethered blades.

_Cipher-9_ was by my side in moments as _Alpha Team_ took up cover in the rubble to provide covering fire. "Shall we?" My friend said as he twirled his daggers and I reloaded my now spent weapon.

"Anytime _Cipher_" I said as we both charged headlong into the morass of Grimm.

**That Same Time, Royal Valean Children's Hospital, North-East of Vytal Square. 3****rd**** person POV: **

The men and women who formed "C" Company of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Mobile Regiment took up positions around the streets leading Vale's specialist hospital for children as the bullheads of the VPD and medical airships went about ferrying every sick and injured child they could out of the hospital and to the safety of medical facilities at _Fort Amada_.

Private Lindsay Lavender, the younger sister of the well-known reporter Lisa Lavender knelt behind a large pot plant as she watched two of her Regiment's Light Armoured Assault Carriers park end to end to block one of the main roads headed towards the hospital, creating a 26 tonne roadblock, a roadblock that just also happened to be armed with two 30mm autocannons and four 7.62mm machine guns.

In the distance she should hear the howls of the hordes of Creeps and Beowolves, the quicker moving of the Grimm who would reach the Valean hospital first. Behind her the whine of airship and sky taxi engines taking off filled the young woman with relief that some more of the kids had gotten away from the impending tidal wave of Grimm.

Looking over the pot plant, past the LAACs, Lavender could see combat engineers laying several different types of mines along the street: bounding mines along the actual road and directional mines along the sidewalks, ready to dish out instant death when the time was right. Looking down, Lavender thumbed off the safety of her machine gun and unfolded the bipod, kneeling down she rested the bipod in the dry dirt of the pot plant and aimed down the road, making sure she had a good field of fire for when the Grimm did come. Lavender's assistant gunner, a 17 year old girl who'd conned her way into the VDF named Ivy knelt beside her, slowing her breathing and trying to calm her racing heart as she laid out spare boxes of ammunition.

The howls began getting closer and a light rumble emanated through the ground could be heard, several more soldiers took up positions poking around corners or the sides of the LAACs, any space available was now occupied by a soldier, weapon at the ready. The engineers completed laying the mines and ran back and hid behind the buildings near Lavender, her Commanding officer was there to, radio in hand and looking very nervous, the atmosphere was thick with tension as the soldiers waited, the howls getting ever closer.

It was then that the commanding officer spoke up over the radio net "Ok troopers, good news is we've got air support coming on station in a few minutes. Bad news is not even half the hospital has been evacuated and there's a 100 kids in there who can't be moved at all for one reason or another so it is imperative that WE hold the line here, if those Grimm get through us then there's no one else to protect those kids, all our enforcer MBTs are deployed elsewhere and there's no hunters coming to save us so we're it, We're the sole defenders of this part of Vale! So you remember that and do your best, come what may. Good luck and good hunting." The CO said as across all the roads leading to the hospital, now turned into chokepoints of combat vehicles and mines and guns. The eager soldiers raked bolts and thumbed off safeties.

The first Grimm barrelled down the road that Lavender was covering, immediately the autocannons of the LAACs opened up and the first dozen Beowolves fell in moments as the horde converged on several different streets making a beeline for the source of fear that were the children still in the hospital. Lavender fired quick, controlled bursts at Beowolves and Creeps as they charged up the street at a blistering pace, but as they closed the front runners got only a few metres closer before being shredded apart by autocannon and small arms fire. Lavender's machine gun ran dry and she picked up one of the spare ammunition boxes that Ivy had laid out beside their cover. In the 10 seconds it took to fully load the new box of ammo, the leading Grimm had gone from 400m away to under 250m away, These Grimm were faster than even the fastest humans or Faunus. The soldiers and their vehicles kept pouring fire down the street, trying to slow the advance of the charging Grimm but for each one that fell and disintegrated five more would take their place.

Lavender's weapon ran dry and the woman set a new record for loading a machine gun as the rumbling in the ground intensified and the Grimm were so close one could feel the shadow of death hanging over them. The Grimm got to within 30m of the armoured roadblocks when across the defensive line came the calls of "Take Cover!" as the engineers hit the detonators for the mine fields that covered the streets. Lavender and Ivy ducked behind their cover as an ear-splitting explosion rocked the streets as the first round of mines: The bounding mines laid across over 100m of roadway on each street jumped up underneath the Grimm and exploded, shredding hundreds of creatures across the several streets they were charging down. It gave the soldiers a few precious seconds of respite as the Grimm who were following their former kin showed the slightest hesitation before howling and snarling while dozens more were mown down by small arms and autocannon fire before they began charging headlong at the soldiers again.

Lavender by this point had abandoned controlled bursts and was just pouring as much lead down range as she could, behind her she could still hear more and more bullheads and air taxis or air ambulances evacuating the children from the hospital, but it would never be enough, every soldier on the line knew those aircraft would never be fast enough. The machine gun again ran dry as the Grimm got close again barely 20m away, this time to again be shredded by the directional mines spewing forth thousands of steel balls in a deadly crossfire on both sides of the street as well as lined up in front of the LAACs. As Lavender finished reloading, she and Lavender saw coming into view were the more powerful but slower Grimm: Ursa Minors and Boarbatusks as well as the larger and more heavily armoured Alpha Beowolves. The roars and howls of the larger Grimm shook Lavender, Ivy and every other soldier there to their very cores as they lumbered forward, now without any mines to inhibit them. The fire became less controlled as everyone just went full auto, desperate to stop the heavily armoured Grimm. When the Grimm were only about 50m away Lavender's weapon again rain dry. In a panic Lavender drew her .45 pistol and fired wildly, she didn't know if she hit anything or did any damage at that range. As the Grimm continued closing despite many falling to the fire of the soldiers, Lavender began to see her life flash before her eyes, accepting her fate but the Grimm never reached her or her comrades. As a flight of four Warheads appeared from over the hospital and began firing into the horde with their 30mm rotary cannons and 70mm rocket pods under their wings. Explosions and rounds ripped through Grimm on each of the four roads leading to the hospital they charged down. The fire from the bullheads was continuous for nearly a minute until each aircraft had expended every round and rocket.

Looking back in relief, Lavender saw the nose art of each Warhead, identifying the pilots: _Raging Bull, Matador, Picador _&amp;_ Banderillero_ each of the Warhead's nose arts had a black bull with stream coming out of its nose charging a different half naked woman in sexualised bullfighting attire, except _Raging Bull's_ which had the bull charging all three half naked women. The young machine gunner couldn't help but laugh at the art and the expression of friendship and rivalry the four pilots shared with their art. Lavender felt the adrenaline subsiding and her muscles beginning to relax as the Warheads broke off to re-arm back at _Armada _and Lavender reloaded the last box of rounds into her machine gun. The soldiers looked around and collectively cheered, several pumping their helmets in the air, the hospital had been defended… or so they'd thought until a horrific screech was heard and half a dozen Deathstalkers came into view.

"Retreat! The LAAC's have run dry!" A LAAC gunner said over the comms, before a figure was seen scrambling out of a turret and towards the hospital. It was now that everyone realised that despite all they'd done, they no longer had anything capable of piercing the Deathstalkers' bony plates.

"Hold the line soldiers! Hold the line, we got one last surprise for these Grimm bastards!" The CO called over the comms as he stood and fired from the hip in full view of the charging Grimm, spurring the rest of the soldiers to rally beside him, forming a last ditch effort. Everyone fired to the last round even when the Deathstalkers were upon them, ripping the CO and several dozen more men to shreds with their claws or impaling them on their stingers.

Lavender watched helplessly as Ivy was cut clean in two by a Deathstalker, it was then that she heard the whistling… the whistling salvos of naval artillery flattening the buildings around the roads that the soldiers were defending, a shell struck near Lavender, knocking her down and unconscious, she'd never see the buildings collapsing around her and her fellow soldiers crushing them, the civilians hiding in them and the Grimm, indeed the hospital and packed residential districts beyond it had been defended but at the cost of an reinforced company of nearly 120 soldiers killed and countless more civilians who'd been in the 4 city blocks that had been flattened, creating a huge blockage, covered in cluster mines dropped from the ships of the Valean Air Fleet to obliterate any remaining Grimm in that area.

**Valean Residential Area, 4km South-West of Vytal Square. 3****rd**** person POV:**

A bullhead landed in the middle of a street, small single level houses on both sides of the road, citizens piling into cars to make their escape towards the southern border of the city where the VDF had secured several safe zones whose locations were being broadcast over the CCTS constantly. Out of the Bullhead jumped two huntsmen: Zack Azure and Jay Arsenau.

"Well Zack, it isn't the tournament grand final but I think this is a much more worthy fight, I wish you luck." Jay said as he drew his two crescent like short swords and walked towards an intersection where a pack of about 15 Ursa were charging towards this quiet residential neighbourhood.

Zack drew his Longsword named _Paladin_ and advanced towards the Grimm slowly, his dust infused plate armour clanking as he walked. He had his symbol etched into the middle of the gold coloured chest plate as well as on the teal cloak he had clipped to his shoulders. While scale like armour protected his waist, thighs and arms. "Remember Jay, we must only protect the civilians around here. Fight smart and don't over extend yourself." Zack said as he twirled his sword. The two charged together, Jar moving slightly quicker as he wasn't wearing the heavy _Laura Armouries_ plates instead opting for a lighter dust infused bikers jacket with the scales of justice on the left breast and dust infused cargo pants.

The first Ursa reached jay and snapped at him with its monstrous teeth, Jay moved quickly and leaped above the chomping Ursa and as the Grimm passed under him he swung both his crescent shaped blades at the Grimm's neck, decapitating it easily and landing on the now disintegrating Ursa's back. Jay was very quick on his feet and even quicker with his hands, the Grimm now roared and charged at the Mistralan fighter.

Zack on the other hand fought more defensively, making sure he kept himself between the Grimm and the frightened citizens scrambling for their cars to escape. A Ursa Major swiped a paw at the Huntsman who parried it with his sword, swatting the strike away before recovering and driving his sword up through the Ursa's exposed neck, seeing it die brought great joy to Zack, each Grimm he killed was one step towards avenging his father, slain in defence of his own village.

Seeing another Ursa charging past him towards a family, Zack drew from his hip a heavy pistol and fired several explosive rounds into the Grimm's back, ripping it to shreds as he aimed into the gaps of its bony plates, smiling Zack turned and swung his sword at the nearest Ursa, this Ursa was a bit older and smarter and had the instincts to block Zack's strike with its left armoured forelegs while swiping at Zack with the other, a perfect parry and riposte. Zack angled his shoulder and the paw slammed into his left shoulder plate, the dust infused plate absorbing the thunderous blow, though it did send Zack tumbling sideward several metres closer to where Jay had caught an Ursa's arm with one of his crescent blades and severed it with the other.

Both huntsmen steadied themselves as they faced the remaining 10 Ursa charged them, the last civilians leaving the street from the opposite end, hearing the last engine speed out of view brought a sigh of relief, Zack thumbed a selector switch on his oversized pistol and it began to morph in his hand, becoming very quickly a short sword with a 20 inch blade which Zack held in a unique under-handed style. Rather than charging in again the pair waited for the Ursa to charge, gauging what was the best way to despatch the Grimm quickly. The Ursa all charged together, trying to overwhelm the two young huntsmen. Zack and Jay just stood their ground, readying their blades. The Ursa arrived and swamped the two huntsmen, the first Ursa reached Zack and he blocked a downward strike at him by the monster's powerful claws with his sword while plunging his dagger into its arm, severing tendons and muscles and ligaments thus rendering the arm next to useless as a weapon.

Jay jumped over a horizontal slash from one of the Ursa and in mid-air slammed the points of his crescent blades into the skull of the beast, the points piercing into its brain and immediately ending that Grimm's existence, however as soon as he landed he was lunged on by an Ursa from behind, knocking Jay down who rolled onto his back and kicked the Ursa's head in the side as it went for the killing blow, the disorientated Ursa was then leaped on by Zack who plunged his sword deep into the back of the Grimm's neck. Jay nodded a thank-you to Zack who smirked and leaped off the now disintegrating Grimm towards the pack Alpha who was at least twice as large as the other Ursa the boys had faced today. Charging head long at it, Zack lunged left of the Alpha Ursa trying to stamp down on him, at its flank Zack slashed at its legs, trying to incapacitate the beast as quickly as possible while Jay fought of the remaining Ursa from the pack. The Alpha howled as the blade cut its right foreleg, leaving a large gash that hampered its movement.

"You ok Jay?" Zack called out as he rolled from another slamming blow from the Grimm.

"Just fine Zack, just concentrate on the big fella, then we can get out of here." Jay said, mildly admonishingly as Jay preferred no talking or yelling or other vocal noise from him or his allies in battle. Jay ducked under an Ursa's head and slammed the points of his crescent blades up into the bottom of the Grimm's jaw, killing it instantly.

There were now 2 Ursa Minors and the one large Ursa Major who was the pack Alpha. Zack bore the brunt of a swatting strike from the Alpha and slid across the ground but kept his footing, both his shoulder plates now scuffed and dented but still holding together. Zack held his sword low and slashed up at the Alpha, only for the larger Grimm to block it with its bony plates but a deep gash in it was left nonetheless.

Jay had had enough of the Ursa and ran and kicked off the ground as the two smaller Grimm both charged him, he corkscrewed himself between them, using his semblance: _Slight of Hand_ to move his hands almost blindingly in several wild cuts and slashes, dismembering and gutting the Ursa while he spun in mid-air, landing in a roll he knelt and caught his breath, knowing not to assist Zack in his fight, for it would insult the swordsman's deep sense of honour, so instead he kept an eye out for any more straggling Grimm.

Zack jumped and landed on the Alpha's shoulder while it was upright and went to stab the Grimm but the Grimm bucked and Zack overbalanced, falling to the ground, Zack rolled and was immediately on his feet and stood his ground as the Ursa lunged at Zack, trying to chomp into him, Zack jumped the strike and spring-boarded off of the Grimm's head, landing on its flat back, plunging his longsword into its back, the hilt impacting spine as the hulking Grimm was paralysed, standing beside it Zack flourished the blade and held it vertically with the hilt at his chin for a moment before he flourished it again and swung it down, executing the Grimm.

A slow clap could be heard from Jay. "Way to be a show off Zack, you know you can let me help in a fight sometimes, it won't always be one-on-one." Jay said as he surveyed the now deserted neighbourhood.

"Almost all hunters on missions work solo, we might be first years but we must get used to not relying on teams or even partners. Now stop being a smart Arsenau." Zack said as he sheathed his sword.

"Say that pun once more and I swear I'm feeding you to the next Grimm we see." Jay said irritated.

"Fair enough, speaking of the next Grimm we see, let's go and find some. I'm sure there's more people out there in need of us." Zack said as he jogged off, his plate armour clanking as he did. Jay a few steps behind, brothers in arms heading once more into battle.

**Ten Minutes later, 3km North of Vytal Square. 3****rd**** Person PoV:**

Two female Faunus headed towards the sounds of screaming and gunfire, a badger Faunus running &amp; a hummingbird Faunus flying just above her fellow huntress-in-training. Rounding the final corner, the sight that awaited Flicker McKraken and Bernadette "BB" Badger was one of seeing a police officer being ripped apart by a Creep while his partner put himself between a group of injured civilians being carried by paramedics to ambulances and the Grimm, firing his pistol dry and in desperation drawing his extendable baton and was obviously prepared to die for the civilians in what had moments ago been a makeshift triage area. A Creep charged the lone police officer who selflessly raised his baton, only for Flicker to swoop in, firing her oversized tommy gun, ripping into the flank of the Creep. BB leaped in, her hands covered in large metallic claws and she gutted the Grimm, her brown hair now smattered with the innards of the beast which began to disintegrate quickly.

Looking to the traumatised police officer Flicker bowed in respect when she landed "You did your duty selflessly officer, be proud of yourself but let us handle this, help get the wounded to safety, there is a military checkpoint nearby that will be safe." The peach skinned girl said as she raked the bolt on her tommy gun and BB's claws transformed into .50 calibre pistols at a flick of her wrist.

Taking flight Flicker strafed the column of incoming Grimm of all types, staying below rooftop level but staying just out of reach of the Grimm's claws and jaws, mowing down the creatures behind the front ranks, leaving those for Bernadette.

BB advanced towards the horde at a walking pace, firing her pistols in rapid succession, the explosive red dust in the rounds gauging holes into whatever it hit, reloading once BB broke into a run and leaped into the air keeping her head pointed at the ground as she fired her pistols down into the Grimm, when they once more emptied BB righted herself and flicked her wrists, her pistols once more becoming claws as she landed in the middle of the horde, immediately shoulder charging the flank of the nearest Creep, it's legs buckling from the sideward force and it fell to its side, BB clawing at its throat with intense ferocity that the claws nearly decapitating it. From behind her a Creep slammed its armoured head into BB's back, BB fell and the beast jumped on her, trying to snap at her throat, but instead BB managed to get her hands on its neck, keeping the head a few inches away from her neck until for long enough to leverage her legs under the Creep's Belly launching the Grimm into the air over her head, rolling back onto her feet BB ran to the recovering Grimm and ended it with one swift slash to the throat.

Above her the drum magazine on Flicker's Tommy gun ran dry and Flicker thumbed a selector switch, turning the gun into a chainsaw, flying low the Faunus laughed with joy as she carved into the Grimm with the chainsaw, strafing just above them, slaughtering many Grimm.

BB was moving at a frenetic pace as she weaved and slashed about the Grimm around her, impaling her clawed hands on a Creep's ribcage, her claws became lodged in bone and as she worked to dislodge her jammed weapon a 2nd Creep lunched and bit into her extended right arm, the scream was ear piercing as enraged BB swung her other hand, one claw from her right hand going right through the Grimm's eye socket, making it let go of her left arm, BB managed to extricate her injured arm, bloody puncture wounds where she'd been caught by surprise.

Seeing this Flicker swopped in and landed, her weapon in its ranged form and a fresh drum magazine loaded, firing long bursts at any Creep's that came towards them, but most kept on charging, towards the palpable fear of the injured people nearby. Flicker picked up the injured BB and took off.

"Flicker, put me down! You can't handle this much weight while airborne for long." BB protested as she used her good hand to fire pot shots at the Grimm down below.

"I don't need to be up for long, just long enough Bernadette." Flicker said calmly as she saw ahead an intersection, crowded with soldiers and supported by two Enforcer MBT's. "See BB, I know what I'm doing."

Flicker was obviously struggling to keep flying with the solidly built Badger Faunus in her arms and the landing was hard and caused both girls to tumble, much to the amusement of the nearby soldiers. Two men with medical red crosses painted on their helmets and on brassards came over to BB and began disinfecting and dressing the wounds.

Flicker saw two officers talking near the tanks, walking over to them, a look of worry on her face Flicker made her presence known. "Excuse me Sirs, Did a group of ambulances come through this checkpoint?" The young huntress-in-training asked.

The two officers looked to each other then to Flicker, then one who was obviously a tank officer by his heavy gloves and crewman uniform complete with pistol in a shoulder holster spoke "No, but we did hear several SOS's from the direction you girls came from." The young tanker replied.

Flicker was aghast that they'd received distress calls but hadn't moved forward. Noting her shocked reaction, the infantry officer stepped forward, pulling off his helmet "As much as we want to, we've got direct orders to hold the line and make sure the millions of people behind us are in no danger before we push forward. No good us charging in and getting overrun and killed and Grimm spreading to other parts of the city. Trust me, if I could I'd charge: My wife and two year old daughter were in Vytal Square this morning." The officer explained, distress and emptiness evident in his voice and face. He disliked his orders but understanding them at least, despite the fact he'd probably lost his wife and child in the first moments of the breach and this was a man whose only family were now the men and women beside him, he wasn't about to throw their lives away needlessly either.

Flicker took this in then wordlessly took flight, heading back out over the barricade of tanks and into the sky to find the ambulances she'd seen fleeing. All across the skies she saw Bullheads, Warheads as well as Atlesian Airships moving into position across the city and unleashing swarms of their own gunships, looking down she saw a small roundabout with several wrecked ambulances and hundreds of Creeps charging up the road towards the barricade. Enraged, flicker strafed the column again and again until she'd exhausted every bullet she had on her, but the hummingbird wasn't finished yet, her weapon taking its chainsaw form and swooping low, Flicker hacked and slashed at the Grimm, killing over a dozen Grimm until a Creep leaped onto its companions and then used them as a springboard to cannonball itself into Flicker, knocking her out of the air and into one of the ambulances, landing in a pile of blood and shredded human and Faunus flesh.

Stumbling to her feet, Flicker was slick with blood that wasn't hers and she barely noticed the human finger tangled in her hair as she charged the nearest Creep, sawing one of its leg off making it tumble before disembowelling it. Two more came at the Faunus who took off into the air to avoid their strikes, landing behind one and swinging her chainsaw up into its unarmoured belly, tearing it apart. The second leapt at Flicker intending to bite her, only for it to hit the chainsaw with its open jaw as Flicker blocked the strike and killed the Grimm with her block.

Lowering her weapon, Flicker heard a cry with her sensitive Faunus hearing. Turning and looking up she saw a young boy of maybe 10 in a pile of bodies near one of the ambulances at the other side of the roundabout, his arm in a sling and a large cut in his head, the Grim. Flicker was quick to take wing as she willed herself to fly as fast as she could, but she knew she'd never make it in time as a nearby Creep had also heard the boy's cries and it moved swiftly with a large head start on Flicker and Flicker had no ammunition left to take it down from range. The Faunus girl watched in agonisingly slow motion as the creep leaped up, bitting down on the boy's head while one of its legs clawed oped the boy's torso, ripping him to shreds, organs spilling onto the ground. Flicker Screamed and charged the Creep, sawing its head right off. Kneeling down beside the boy, she wiped the blood off his face, it looked like he was sleeping, except for the holes in his skull where teeth had punctured through and brain now oozing out. Picking the boy up Flicker slowly, almost drained of energy took flight again, making her way for the military checkpoint.

Looking down as she reached the checkpoint she saw the 130mm main guns of the 65 tonne Enforcer MBTs firing canister rounds into the Grimm while the hull-mounted flamethrowers sprayed the Creeps with a napalm like mixture, melting them living. Among the fray was BB, firing her pistol from her wounded arm and bashing and slashing to death any Grimm that got through the Enforcer's barrage with her still good arm, BB was ferocious and completely without fear, just as real badgers were.

Landing behind the fighting lines near a small aid station, Flicker gently laid the boy on the ground with the utmost care and respect. It was hardly the first person she'd seen slaughtered by Grimm but yet this still deeply affected her and the Faunus felt she owed this alone and forgotten boy some form of mourning and dignity of not being Grimm feed. Sighing Flicker hefted her chainsaw and headed up to the line to help BB hold this small piece of line so no more kids would meet that nameless boy's fate.

**That Same time, Vytal Square. Simon's PoV:**

I ran up and leapfrogged off of Gregory's back, spearing my _Umbra Vigilans _forward blade down into the unarmoured neck of a Boarbatusk, using my semblance to ensure precision. I landed on the now dead Grimm and ran down its back, my weapon at my hip, its laser pointing to a Beowolf, firing a dozen rounds over a two second burst, scoring 8 or 9 hits, each one ripping the insides of the beast to ribbons. A loud crack sounded and the Grimm's head exploded, Kale's doing I imagined.

Looking around There were still dozens of Grimm pouring out the hole every moment, most ignoring us unless we engaged them or got too close… which is what we did deliberately, give them close targets rather than charging off in search of helpless and unarmed civilians but for each one we took down 4 or 5 were disappearing out of the square, and that isn't factoring in the White Fang we saw slipping out of the hole and down several side streets towards the Faunus Quarter whom the Grimm also ignored.

Looking over I saw a Creep leap up at Gregory, trying to claw at his torso and bite at his head but Gregory blocked the strike and pushed it away with his daggers crossed in a guard and roundhouse kicked the Grimm away as it fell to the ground, finishing it off with a 5 second spray from his flame throwers. I pushed forward and saw a Deathstalker exit the breach, I fired 30 rounds at it, trying to make it face me, unfortunately for me it worked and my weapon ejected the now empty magazine as the large Grimm charged at me. "Oh for fuck sakes!" I said as I charged with an empty magazine. When I was in range the Deathstalker attacked at me with its stinger which I dodged with a back step, the stinger got lodged in the road and I leaped up into its tail and ran across it until I was above its body, tucking my weapon under my arm like a Lance I jumped off the now dislodged tail before I was flung off. Falling horizontally, leading with _Umbra Vigilans_ forward blade I used my semblance and made minute changes to the angle and positioning of my weapon to hit it between bony plates. My blade pierced deeply into the best and the force of me and my armour behind it made the first 4 inches of the staff bury in it as well. This injured but didn't kill the Deathstalker, if anything it just incensed it.

The Grimm thrashed around and eventually flung me off, my weapon still lodged in its back. I rolled several times and hit my head on the destroyed building where Weiss was laying, being cared for by Alpha-3. "Please DON'T do that again Simon." The female Head Hunter ordered as she unslung her assault rifle and handed it and three spare mags to me "You got 90 rounds, make them count on that ugly scorpion."

"Thanks 3" I said as I ran out, sparing a fleeting glance to a now topless Weiss, her dress probably cut off by Alpha-3 so she could more easily work on the heiress. I ignored the wounded state of my friend and focused instead on the fight ahead as I saw Sienna use her semblance to protect Ruby as she fought the Deathstalker. Ruby had her _Crescent Rose_ in ranged mode, firing at the Grimm, but making almost no impact on its heavy armour and claws which it used as a shield. Looking Elsewhere I saw Nyanza and Yang working in tandem to use some Beowolves as boxing bags and pincushions, Nyanza used a tethered blade to wrap around the Grimm's legs making it topple over, its head falling right into a massive upper cut from _Ember Celica_ punching its face clean off.

I knelt beside a trashed car and aimed the 5.56mm rifle at the Deathstalker's eyes, trying to blind it, instead just drawing its attention to me and doing no real damage to it. _'Well I've certainly screwed up here'_ I thought as I kept pumping rounds into it to no avail.

As it turned to face me I saw something that would make a story for my grandkids: Gregory skateboarding down the street at the massive Grimm, swerving on the board and doing a large Ollie over the Deathstalker's claw and landed the board, him lying flat on his back as the board rolled underneath the Grimm, him unleashing large bursts of flame onto its unarmoured underbelly, scorching it in nearly an identical fashion as he had another Deathstalker during our _Black Fist_ trials, though without the skateboard back then. The Deathstalker wailed in what seemed like pain before collapsing dead, this one thankfully not on top of me. I ran out from cover, firing in 3 round bursts at any Grimm I saw near me as I ran to retrieve my weapon from the now disintegrating Grimm. I retrieved my weapon and went back to the demolished building to check on Alpha-3 Team who were still taking cover and laying down accurate fire in the weaker Grimm and the _Fang_, allowing the hunters to take on the larger Grimm.

I put Peach's weapon beside her and looked at Weiss whose torso from below her breasts to hips were covered in bandages, she looked almost peaceful in unconsciousness. "What's your opinion on it Staff Sergeant?" I asked as I finally was able to reload my staff.

Peach looked up to me and shook her head "We need to get her out of here as soon as possible. Whoever wounded her has cut deep and done serious damage to her right kidney and intestines, as well as sawing through part of her pelvis she needs an operating theatre within the hour or she won't make it."

I nodded and held back the lump in my throat "Do you have any idea what caused it?" I asked, wanting to know who was now on top of my shit list.

Peach shook her head "I couldn't tell medically exactly what it was with the basic tools I got but the black haired girl with the bow was happy enough to tell me she was facing a Faunus armed with an oversized chainsaw, so look out for that guy if you want to dispense justice." The medic said as she ripped off a pair of disposable medical gloves.

"Noted, we'll work on getting out here and getting some extraction. I don't think we'll be able to do much else here." I said as I stood and made my way towards Alpha-1, tapping him the shoulder when he stopped to reload his rifle. "Your opinion on where to go from here sir?" I asked as I stood and fired a burst at a charging Creep, a lucky flechette ripping through its eyeball and brain.

"Well we're not slowing down the flow of these guys at all and my radio finally got a hold of the Grimm Class Cruiser, _VNS Goliath_,that is anchored in the harbour. Her Captain and I are in agreement: We get out of here and they bring the square down on top of the Grimm with her 9x8 inch guns, hopefully filling in that damned hole and all the Grimm and Fang with it." The Head Hunter officer said.

I nodded my agreement "Ok, well guess it's time to get out of here, I'm surprised they didn't do this earlier. When's the evac bird coming?" I asked, taking more shots at the Grimm from a decidedly less than comfortable kneeling position.

"Things are chaotic all over the city, most of the artillery and CAS has been focused on supporting the VDF's defensive line. There won't be one, at least not for all of us. We need to move on foot about 1km to a small park where we can extract the wounded from, too many Grimm and Fang around here to safely land a bird, my men will carry your friend on a stretcher, I need your hunters to protect them because they'll be defenceless. I guess they're lucky it's only the small one they got to carry. No offence but you in all that armour is a prick of a thing to carry, and we know that from personal experience." The Officer laughed as he fired a burst, taking down a _Fang_ soldier emerging from the Breach.

"Please, don't remind me. That's still the 2nd most pain I've ever been in." I replied with a groan.

"Ha. Ok I got to get my men organised and get word to Auburn, can you get your friends to fall back to here to give us a protective perimeter." The Officer ordered, firmly but kindly.

I nodded and ran out of the building, my weapon at my hip, firing long bursts of flechettes at any Grimm that were nearby. I reached Yang and Nyanza first, seeing Nyanza doing a spin in mid-air he lassoed a tethered blade around, cutting and injuring several Grimm which while stunned, a pissed off Yang took them down with running punches, in almost non-stop movement as her hair glowed a low gold. Two Creeps were advancing at the pair's flank only for them to be knocked down by a hailstorm of rock, courtesy of Teal on Overwatch from the rear with her whip.

"Ok you two, we got to get moving, this entire area is getting levelled pretty soon and I'd prefer to not be around when that happen, fall back to Alpha Team, protect them at all costs." I said as I strafe ran to my right, reaching Sienna and Ruby, both of which were reloading weapons, Ruby starting to run low on energy, bullets and Aura. Spreading the message to each member of SNST and RWBY. The last to regroup was Sienna who slowly walked back, firing her weapon and defending the rest of us from the sporadic fire incoming from the _Fang _soldiers and the odd Grimm who now were mostly charging down the roads in a seemingly endless stream of black, white and red.

Once we were all back my scroll began to buzz, it was Shauno again. "Yo Simmo, is your girlfriend joining us to show off her skills?" The sniper laughed as his rifle cracked and outside I saw an Ursa take a bullet straight to the eye.

"Ha, funny mate. You got anything serious to say?" I asked, half amused, half irritated at the sniper.

"Yeah, tell that Head Hunter officer that his sniper is being beaten by both Kale and myself and after we finish kicking some serious ass we'll be happy to train him, for a fee of course..." Shauno said still laughing.

I groaned in obvious annoyance, but before I could speak I was cut off by Kale "On a serious note we're getting low on ammo and I think it's time we GTFO here." The older and injured sniper said, sounding tired and out of energy."

"Well now that you mention that, we've had the same idea, get off that roof: we're making a run for it." I said, not mentioning that their home was about to be carpet bombed by aircraft and naval gunfire.

"Gotcha, we'll meet you on the ground floor of our apartment building, this urban combat stuff is reminding me of that fight in the Atlesian Highlands, and the _Fang _didn't know what hit them when over 1000 _Fist_ troopers hit them and slaughtered them." Kale said with a laugh, not realising my scroll was on speaker and Sienna was right next to me.

"Mate, just keep your mind on the job. See you in two minutes tops." I growled, cutting the connection and feeling Sienna glaring angrily at me and my scroll

"That goes for you too Sienna, we got enough things trying to kill us without you needing to try and kill a man who's saved my life on more than one occasion." I said as I checked my ammo levels.

With everyone assembled I noticed that Yang was looking mildly concussed but I knew she'd tough it out, she'd have to because we didn't have a 2nd stretcher for her. I saw Alpha-4, the team's explosive's expert and Nyanza pick up Weiss' stretcher, as Ny was dangerously low on blades and pistol ammo so he was now a stretcher bearer. Alpha-1 stepped forward and loaded a magazine into his rifle "Ok ladies and gents this is how it will go: Myself and Yang will take the front, Alpha 3 and Blake will be left side guard, Ruby and Sienna will be right side that will leave Teal, Simon and Alpha-2 to bring up the rear and protect against any Grimm snapping at our heels. Ok move out." Alpha-1 said calmly through his mask as he and Yang went first, Yang landing a punishing right hook onto a nearby Beowolf, shattering its skull as it lunged at her snap at her head. The rest of us followed, forming a protective circle around the stretcher carrying the nearly lifeless body of Weiss, her weak breaths filling me with worry for her safety and fury at failing her.

I was the last out and walking backwards beside Sienna laying down supressing fire in a sweeping arc with my weapon at my hip. When something caught my eye near the breach: Professor Oobleck, carrying a dog scrambled from the hole, being chased by a large Faunus with a cut and ripped uniform… carrying a bloodstained chainsaw on his shoulder, I recognised him as a man who'd been present during the assassination gone wrong that got Kale and I injured, but that didn't matter compared to the fact he'd nearly killed Weiss.

The bodyguard and protective friend inside me took control and I flicked my wrist, extending the blades of _Umbra Vigilans _and charging off, turning to Sienna "Go protect Oobleck and get him out of here! I'll handle these fucks!" I said, shoulder charging a creep out of my way as I ran and completely ignoring the cries of my friends and comrades to stop and work with them but I trusted them to get their teacher out of harm's way without me until I took care of some pure and simple vengeance. I passed Oobleck who merely nodded to me as he continued on and dove behind Sienna's shield, putting the dog down who ran for Ruby's side. The Faunus turned their attention to me, the obvious threat and began firing on me.

I let my armour and Aura take the brunt of the hits, making a beeline right for the chainsaw wielding Faunus, I ripped the pin from a grenade and held onto it for two seconds and threw it into the group of foot soldiers who had formed a firing line between myself and my target. The explosive detonated, killing the or wounding the majority of them, the rest throwing down their weapons to carry their wounded friends away from the nearing Grimm, having scented out the fear the _Fang _fighters held of me.

Once through the rear guard I brought my weapon to my hip and fired a long stream of flechettes towards the other fighters making their way out of the square, most already bruised, battered and bloody. The storm of flechettes cut half a dozen men down with flechettes in the back before the chainsaw wielding Faunus turned and allowed the flechettes to hit his aura as he revved up the chainsaw, menacing me with it, making sure I saw the blood on it, we stopped and sized each other up while his friends got away.

"I recognisssse you, Ssssimon Alexander: the Bodyguard of that Sssschnee bitch. Tell me, did sssshe die? I can ssssee your pathetic friendssss with her on a sssstretcher." The snake Faunus said with smug satisfaction.

"You might have hurt my charge, my friend and I failed her on that account. But I'm settling that account by removing your head from your shoulders, you may be able to hurt a Schnee but you'll never live to boast about it." I said as I charged him, _Umbra Vigilans_ at my waist, firing flechettes. The Faunus hefted his chainsaw up above his head and brought it down as I got close to him, lunging off my right foot I landed in a crouch and immediately sprung back at the large Faunus who kicked at me, knocking me off balance and swiping the chainsaw horizontally at me. I held my staff vertically, blocking the strike, the sound of metal on metal screeching through both our ears and sparks going everywhere, some settling on my mask, luckily it was flame proof due to me working with Gregory.

The large Faunus pulled the chainsaw away and swung at me again, this time down at me again. The massive force behind the strike put me to one knee as the chain chewed into the shaft of my weapon, not getting very deep but sending plenty of sparks once more flying. I gritted my teeth and feigning my grip and strength weakening and making the Faunus overconfident. "Now you die you Sssschnee bootlicker!" He scowled through his mask, trying to intimidate me, he pushed his imagined advantage, him raising his chainsaw and slamming it back down onto the shaft of my weapon, gouging into the composite armour of the weapon.

"Oh it'll be you dying today" I snarled as I suddenly pushed back against his strike and forcing myself back up onto two feet, making the Faunus to stumble back and I parried an aura augmented right handed punch with a swat of my staff, immediately slashing it back the way it had come, hitting the mask of the _Fang_ officer, taking a large chunk out of the right side of the right side of the mask.

I pushed my advantage, not giving the large and already battered and tired Faunus a chance to recover or regain his footing, I lanced my staff at him which was parried but I immediately retaliated with a slash at his ankles, cutting into his lower left calf muscle. The fatigue of the fighting against Weiss, Grimm and me were showing as his movements with the overly large chainsaw became very telegraphed and predictable. Charging forward I slashed upwards on a diagonal from right to left, trying to gut the Faunus from naval to collarbone. However the Faunus grabbed the razor sharp blade of _Umbra Vigilans _with his right hand as it was nearing his waist, him grunting in pain as his exposed fingers were sliced open by the blade. He thrust at me with the end of his chainsaw, it tearing into my chest plate, scarring and gouging it.

I managed to rip _Umbra Vigilans _from his grip, tearing a large gash into his hand and nearly slicing his middle finger in two as I rolled backwards and stood, weapon at my hip and giving him another spray of Flechettes, keeping him off balance as I ran at him, still firing from the hip at the _Fang _officer. When I was close enough I spun on my heel and through all my weight behind a slash at his waist, the hulking Faunus managed to parry it with his chainsaw held vertically with the chain facing towards the ground and immediately respond my cutting up at me, the chainsaw running up my right leg from knee to hip, getting hair-raisingly close to my groin before I could lunge backwards and out of danger.

Looking at my wrist mounted scroll I could see I was at half-aura and I was very much over-extended with no support, so I had to end this quickly. I knew that lobbing smoke or flash-bangs would not work with this reptilian, due to him probably having thermal pits to pick up my body-heat. So I just circled him, both of us ignoring the roars of the Grimm and the screams of the dying that surrounded us. I moved first my staff trailing behind me like a javelin thrower and about 10m from my enemy I launched _Umbra Vigilans _at the _Fang _officer, he was surprised by me throwing my primary weapon at him but managed to deflect it off his chainsaw, making it lodge into the ruins of a bakery, the rear blade pointing up menacingly next to the Faunus.

Before the shock of my throw could wear off I had lunged up at the Faunus, using my semblance to time my lunge to avoid his weapon. Looping my arm around his neck and throwing my body around him, sling shotting around his neck and making the Faunus stumble and fall backwards, right onto my staff and impaling himself on it.

I landed with a stumble and skid about 5m from the impaled Faunus, my back to him. I crossed my arms over my chest and flicked them to my side, extending my gauntlet blades as I did, my _Vengeful Shadow_ baring its fangs. Looking into the distance I could see Sienna, Yang and Ruby in the far corner of the square, firing upon Grimm and _White Fang_ stragglers as they witnessed my fight with the _Fang_ officer. I turned to face the dying Faunus and walked over slowly and deliberately towards him, my gauntlet blades glistening in the morning sun. I strode right up to him and plunged my blades into his throat and ripped outwards, shredding his neck removing his head from his shoulders and covering my armour and face in his blood. I extricated my weapon from his abdomen. For good measure I shoved a grenade into the hole left by my primary weapon and ran for where Sienna and the sisters were, I saw Yang covering Ruby's face with her hood, probably so she didn't have to witness cold-blooded murder. I strode past them and continued on towards the extraction point, not giving anyone a chance to tell me how stupid I was to do that. I kept my weapon at my hip ready to fire on any threats that presented themselves as we moved towards our extraction, moments later the square erupted with cruise missiles and naval artillery then covered in cluster bombs from Warheads, sealing the breach and trapping dozens if not hundreds of Faunus below in Grimm filled cabins.

**That Same Time, Black Fist Encampment, Lachlan's POV:**

I'd lost count of how many times today my scroll had buzzed with calls from operatives inside Vale telling me of a Grimm Breach orchestrated by the _White Fang_. I looked to my scroll, deciding now it was time for me to make a call to try and sort out this absolute clusterfuck. The scroll answered after only one ring.

"Did you do this?" I asked, almost accusingly.

"Do what? I do many things, so you'll need to be more specific _Black Fist_" The confident and seducing feminine voice at the other end said, she knew what I was asking about but she was just playing control games with me at this point.

"The Breach in Vales defences? You said I'd know there'd be a sign when it was time to move but you said it wouldn't be for days or weeks. Is this it? My men are not nearly ready for this!" I said angrily into the microphone.

"Hush, hush. This isn't the signal, this isn't even part of my plan but You might be able to turn this to your advantage if you move quickly and smartly as I'am." The voice said before cutting off the connection.

I slammed my fist and scroll onto the desk, angry beyond belief before I hit record on my scroll, opening an encrypted broadcast to the scrolls of every _Fist_ member. "Brothers and Sisters-in-arms, as you know the cancerous _White Fang_ has launched a massive and cowardly attack on our city, our HOMES! Now is the time to fight, to defend humanity from that scum! Take to the streets in full colours my patriotic comrades and defend Vale! Let the army and the hunters take on the Grimm, We will fight the fang district to district, street to street, block to block and house to house! Kill the Fang and their Faunus sympathisers until the gutters flow freely with Faunus blood and the sidewalks are clogged with Faunus corpses!" I said, sending the message to hundreds of soldiers around the city.

I felt slightly calmer as I walked out of my tent and to the cells where the prisoners from the convoy we raided were being held, I found _Ghost_ there, tormenting them. The masked and armoured figure turned and nodded to me, his armour clanking as he did. "I would ask you to get the best men we had and go and break Levi out, but by the time you're assembled and moving there will be 50,000 soldiers from Vale and Atlas in the streets and not even you can face them at this time. So instead I want you to take these people, question them for every scrap of information they have then kill them. Quick bullets to the head for the humans, I want the Faunus to be flayed living… after their Faunus parts are hacked off and burnt before their eyes. The rest of us are moving camp, we need to get further from the city because I can only see Vale responding in a most heavy handed manner to what's going on inside the city." I said, anger still burning hot from the news of the breach.

_Ghost_ just nodded and pointed to a group of men to assist him in executing my orders while I walked off to begin packing up my tent for the relocation another hundred miles from the city, deeper into the wildlands.

**That Same Time, Vale Intelligence HQ, Briefing Room. Keeper's PoV:**

I strode into the briefing room, to see it full of armoured Ciphers, Fixers, Minders as well as Watchers who were distributing individual orders. On dozens of monitors there was drone footage of the breach's spread, operatives already in the field as well as a map of Vale with dozens of targets marked, all _White Fang_ safe houses and supply depots that we'd identified but hadn't hit yet in order to find out members and their pattern of operations, but in light of this morning's events I'd ordered the immediate destruction of as much _Fang_ infrastructure as we could find.

"Ok agents, listen up!" I ordered firmly, immediately the room fell silent. I sighed, it was going to be a very long few days for the men and women who protected Vale from the shadows… especially given we were operating in broad daylight now. "The VDF, Atlesian Military and the hunters are dealing with the current threat with assistance from the VPD and several dozen agents who are on the frontlines. We however have a different target today. We're going to make sure the _Fang_ never recovers from today, after today we'll have crushed the _Fang _and brought them to face the King's justice, then we'll move onto the _Fist_ and their brigands. Move swiftly and with utmost ferocity, no prisoners are to be taken. All _Fang_ captured are to be lined up against a wall and shot without exception. Am I understood?" I said calmly and coldly. Looking around I only saw nods and an aura of determination from the dozens of masked and armoured operatives now leaving with manila folders with their team's individual targets. I sighed internally before walking back into my office, fury at myself building for not having seen this as well as thinking up ways to ensure the public fury that would be kicked up in the aftermath is not directed at myself or my agents or organisation.

**10 Minutes later, 10km North-East of Breach. 3****rd**** Person PoV:**

The two Black painted Bullheads flew low over the rooftops of the port of Vale, no emblems or ID numbers on them, just black paint and deeply tinted windows. Aircraft from _VI's_ own small air-wing. Their target was a large 3 storey house near the docks that were home to a _White Fang_ supply depot for goods and soldiers smuggled in through the port.

"Righto lads, _Stalker-1_ will hover over the flat roof and storm in from there, _Stalker-2_ will land right on the front door and storm in. Gun everyone down, place enough explosives to level a city block and extract. I want us in and out within 5 minutes." The _Cipher_ agent in charge ordered as he loaded his death adder. the other 3 _Ciphers_ and the 4 _Minders_ did the same.

"1 Minute! Doors opening!" The pilot said through the intercom as the interior lights went off and the armoured doors slid open, the wind whistling through as the two aircraft flew meters above rooftops.

"30 seconds! Brace for landing!" The Pilot called as he dived towards the front courtyard but as the aircraft swooped in, a rocket flew from the far end of the courtyard underneath the Bullhead and rocked the building.

"Abort, Abort, Abort! Take us around again!" The Pilot said as he and the co-pilot pulled up and flew high above the area, circling it, the side doors open and the lead_ Cipher _looking through a set of range finders to get a view of what was happening below.

"Looks like we got ourselves a little bit of a gang war going, I'm seeing several _Black Fist_ flags flying in the buildings across from our target and a lot of gun fire." The lead agent said over his comms.

"What do you want to do sir?" The 2nd in command asked from the other Bullhead.

"Well as much as I hate those _Fist _Bastards, I say we take advantage of this. Pilots, put us down behind the target instead of in front, we'll pincer the _Fang_ and secure the weapons and supplies before the _Fist_ can." The lead _Cipher _ordered, moments later the bullheads swooping down like hawks going in to snatch up their prey. The bullheads landed, their fronts facing towards the target building, the two customised 12.7mm Gatling guns mounted in the nose spewing forth fire and blood.

"Move out men! Stack up on the doors!" The leading agent called, withdrawing a grenade from his pouch while another agent placed an explosive charge on a door and detonated it, blowing it inwards. The agents charged in by twos, the front ones rushing to a + intersection of hallways at half way up the hallway covering the corners while the next four agents in went to each door in pairs, one opening and the other lobbing in a grenade, killing any occupants or wounded. The lead agent then pushed up with the next four agents and went forward past the two first men in, the uni splitting into groups of 4, one group going up each hall way and one to cover the rear. Running, weapons at shoulders as they ran, the lead agent saw a _Fang _soldier pop out a door at a crouch, it was a quick draw and the highly trained and seasoned agent, a former _Head Hunter_ before he joined _VI_ won the draw, his death adder bursting to life and put 6 rounds into the Faunus' throat and face.

Charging through towards the front area of the building where the Faunus were massed, defending the door against the _Black Fist_ attackers there were shots, explosions and screams from upstairs as the other two assault teams charged the higher levels and caught the already pinned down Faunus from behind, cutting them down to the man. But the _Fang_ fighters on the ground floor where the leader and his team were charging up came face to face with an improvised barricade and an emplaced machine gun, the 4 men dove for cover in indents in the wall for closets as the machine gun began firing down the long hallway.

"Grenade out!" one of the _Minders_ called as he slung a grenade toward the barricade but exploding harmlessly against the floor to roof defensive position, solid except for firing ports.

One of the agents popped his head out for a split second and promptly lost it to expertly aimed machine gun fire.

"_Minder-30_, get one of those 1kg explosive charges out, without getting shot up." The leader barked, pushing himself as far into his meagre cover as he could, calmly reloading his SMG. The _Minder_ realised what the plan was and dialled a 10 second fuse onto the detonator, hit the button and tossed it against the barricade. The Timer hit zero and the hallway and barricade were rocked by the charge going off, the force of it collapsing the barricade and knocking out the machine gun. The lead Agent charged out, his SMG firing in full auto at the dazed gunner and his assistant, both falling. The other _Cipher_ and the surviving _Minder _came in after him, one turning left and the other right, mowing down the dazed and ragged defenders in the front of the building, the closest ones being gunned down and the rest throwing their hands up, only to also be gunned down once the agents reloaded.

"Ok boys, find the supplies, rig it to blow then let's go, out the front door this time. Time to meet our one time brothers in arms." The agent said, peeking out the window and seeing a group of _Fist _soldiers walking across the street, weapons lowered but still guarded, knowing to not get into a fight with the agents but ready if _VI_ decided to pick a fight. While most of the agents set to work to destroy the contents of the building, the lead agent and _Minder-30_ went outside, weapons by their sides but fingers ready to hit the trigger at a moment's notice.

"Comrades! Gather round, let us thank our allies in the fight against the Faunus scum!" The man who seemed to be the _Fist_ leader said, lifting an unopened bottle of cheap rum into the air.

The _Minder_ agent looked to his leader, the two didn't need to see each other's face to tell the _Minder_ was perplexed and bemused. The lead agent looked forward into the face of the man who'd once been his best friend in high school, _'Oh how small and ironic this world is.'_ The agent thought.

"I'll have to decline that drink and thank-you. We got more targets to hit and our evac birds are coming." The agent said flatly.

"Then let us join you! Together we destroy the _Fist_ and bring peace and order to Vale once more!" The _Fist_ leader yelled with gusto and eagerness for more blood.

The lead agent knew that if he didn't do something the _Fist_ troopers would probably just go and kill random Faunus so he pulled out a small envelope from one of his pouches and handed it over to his childhood friend "The location of a _Fang_ safe house one suburb over. No equipment there but hopefully some Faunus for you to have fun with." The agent said hoping this would sate his and his men's bloodlust.

The man smiled and offered me his hand "I knew that my commander was wrong about _VI_, your leaders might see us a threat but I knew the rank and file agreed with us. Let us go men! To WAR!" He said as they ran off for the new target.

"Are you sure that was a good idea sir? Keeper's not going to like that." He asked, watching the _Fist _disappear around a corner.

"Better than having to fight them for the supplies in that building, it isn't worth dying over, enough agents will be dead by today and I don't intend on adding any more of you guys to that list." The lead agent said as the other agents left the building having rigged the supplies and the fallen agent to be incinerated. And with that the group made off to their extraction, the beginnings of a very long and bloody day indeed.

**A/N: **more of the breach will be forthcoming but as I said I really needed a break from writing but I'm back now. I know this chapter isn't long but I hope it's an appropriate apology for dropping off the face of the earth for 3 months. **CC-2224 Commander Cody **signing off.


End file.
